When Mr Wu Duanbiao arranged his only daughter's wedding late last year, he reportedly wanted to "keep things simple".

The dowry he prepared for the bride included four boxes of gold bars, 20 million yuan (S$4 million) in cash, 100 million yuan in stocks, as well as cars - a Porsche and a Mercedes-Benz.

All in, it came up to just over one billion yuan for Mr Wu, 54, who happens to be a ceramics tycoon in southern Fujian province.

Still, his largesse paled in comparison to that of another super-rich father.

Earlier last year the textiles group boss, also from Fujian, gifted his daughter about 2 billion yuan, which included a 40 million yuan mansion, at her nuptials, local reports claimed. The floral decorations alone cost 8 million yuan, an unnamed guest claimed in an online post.

Such extravagant displays of wealth are becoming increasingly common in China, home to a fifth of the world's billionaires.

Tales of their monied lifestyles, leaked in the local media, have even spawned a Chinese phrase dou fu. It describes the culture of competitive ostentatious consumption, where the wealthy try to outdo each other in novel or exotic luxury pursuits.

In early 2011, a coal mining tycoon reportedly splashed 10 million yuan on a Red Tibetan Mastiff, aptly named "Big Splash". The auspiciously coloured canine, barely a year old at the time but already weighing more than 80kg, travelled only in a convoy of luxury cars, reports said.

In March last year, online posts about a Beijing hunting club offering to arrange trips to Africa or North America at 500,000 yuan per person raised the ire of netizens and animal lovers.

Those game to shoot a lion or a polar bear would pay an additional US$50,000 (S$62,000). A lionness would cost US$15,000 while a rhino - the most expensive animal - would cost US$100,000.

Such accounts of irrational extravagance have galled the poorer masses, who see the gulf between them and the rich, many of whom hold official posts or have political links, ever widening.

As economist Shui Shangnan wrote in a commentary, the splurges by China's rich stemmed from their "access to easy money". This minority, "without effort and toil, fill their pockets and mindlessly squander their wealth on luxury items", he noted, warning that ancient Chinese imperial dynasties had fallen because of similar excesses.

China's income gap and rampant corruption are hot-button issues that could threaten the Chinese Communist Party's grip on power.

The new leadership under President Xi Jinping has launched a campaign to rein in ostentatious spending and excess, including a ban on branded liquor and multi-course official banquets.

Not surprisingly, China's rich have become markedly more discreet of late.

A diamond-studded leather belt for men dubbed "Star-filled Sky" (man tian xin) sold by a top French luxury brand used to be one of the hottest gift items for people in high places, according to consumer goods analyst Wang Fang.

But sales of such showy items have dipped of late, she noted.

The downshift in tastes was evident in the low-key styles adopted by the nearly 3,000 parliamentary delegates, among them 83 billionaires, who attended the annual parliamentary sessions last month.

Gone was the designer gear on display at last year's meetings.

Ms Li Xiaolin, daughter of former premier Li Peng, had worn a pink Emilio Pucci suit said to cost nearly US$2,000.

People's Liberation Army singer Song Zuying had sported a Piaget Limelight Magic Hour watch, said to be worth more than US$40,000.

Property magnate Xu Jiayin had raised eyebrows not because he arrived late but because he was all decked out in Hermes. It prompted one netizen to ask: "Is this a people's congress meeting or a luxury brand convention?"

Ahead of this year's March meetings, spending on luxury goods during Chinese New Year - typically a peak buying period - plunged to a five-year low, the Beijing-based World Luxury Association said in a Feb 26 report.

Still, this does not mean that China's culture of ostentation has disappeared, say analysts.

"It has merely been hidden from the public eye - or gone overseas," noted Ms Wang.

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