The rising of a new middle class in China is a trend which will continue and that has brought new opportunities for American business, says a U.S. expert on China here Tuesday.

Stanley Rosen, director of East Asian Studies Center at the University of Southern California (USC), said at the annual Asia and Pacific Business Outlook conference that China's growth has already led to the rise of a new middle class, as well as a stratum of the rich and even super-rich.

He said that current trends and surveys "strongly suggest that this phenomenon will continue, and Chinese citizens are optimistic about their future entry to middle class status."

These developments in turn have created new role models and new patterns of consumption, stressed Rosen.

For example, he added, whereas price and Chinese brand name had always been the key factors in purchases, more recent surveys have shown that, depending on the consumer item, such things as quality, style and foreign brand name have become far more important.

However, Rosen noted that despite these clear changes, the attitudes and behavior of China's younger generation have been contradictory, ranging from conspicuous consumption of American products such as Hollywood movies to anger at the perceived lack of respect China has received in the U.S. media and from certain U.S. government policies.