Over one million Chinese tourists visited the U.S. last year, and that number is expected to double in 2014.

During their visits, luxury goods are often purchased to take advantage of a tax rate a third less than China's. On average, each Chinese tourist spends $6,000 on a visit here, $2,000 more than tourists from other countries.

High-end retailers, from luxury brands to antiques dealers, are responding with special events and Mandarin-speaking staff to meet the demand.

In the New York Times, the vice president of the antiques store Macklowe Gallery, Ben Macklowe, who recently sold a Tiffany lamp that cost in the low six figures to a Shanghai visitor, said, “There’s been prosperity across so much of Asia that you’re starting to see it much more in the profile of the tourist on Madison Avenue.”