American rappers looking for the ultimate in bling may have to make a trip to China, or more specifically, to Nanjing. According to the Yangtze Evening Post, the city recently unveiled the world’s first ‘gold-plated’ bus.
As with many things in modern China, it’s a marketing gimmick. The city’s Baoqing Shangpincheng jewellery store approached the local bus company with the idea as a way to raise awareness of its brand, paying Rmb200,000 to cover the vehicle with gold foil.
There were mixed reactions. A 24 year-old white collar worker said the golden bus had left a deep impression and she’d definitely go to the store to buy jewellery. But 47 year-old Li Jiaxing said on sunny days the glare was too harsh on the eyes, and he viewed it as a form of “light pollution”. The city’s traffic department sides with Li: it worries the bus will cause accidents, either through the glare from the gold foil blinding other drivers or simply the sight of it distracting them.
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