” To getting rich is glorious”. In the 1980s, this was one of the most popular phrases – formally, at least – to illustrate the attitude at the sun of the opening-up time in post-Maoist China.
China’s paramount chief of the time, Deng Xiaoping, apparently justified this unconventional situation for an supposedly democratic Marxist country by saying:” Foremost you allow some make money, then more likely follow”.
And earn income as well. One of the earliest example is Nian Guangjiu, the leader of Fool’s Melon Grains, who quickly transitioned from being a poor farmer to a rich entrepreneur. However, Nian’s story serves as a morality lesson for those who followed.
In 1989, he spent time in prison on charges of embezzlement and another offences, and his company was taken from him. To get wealthy in China was certainly possible, but it was a way that usually led to prison and perdition.
Despite this, China now has a shared happening with the established world: a group of fantastically wealthy people, and the importance of business people, frequently in the exclusive market, in generating this.
There was only one US dollars businessman when Forbes released the first Chinese “rich list” in 1999, a Hong Kong mogul based on the island called Rong Yiren.
By 2010, this number had risen, perhaps by a liberal estimate, to over 60. And over the course of a decade, it rose to 389, a remarkable illustration of how far China had come since the Maoist government’s almost utter hunger.
The Hurun Report’s wealth tracker, which uses a different method for calculating and valuing assets, has expanded even further, suggesting that China currently has the most billionaires in the world ( 814 ), outpacing the US with 800.
Entrepreneurs may have been a useful indicator of China’s dynamic market, but they are also a missed reminder of how severe injustice is in China. In 2021, according to the Gini factor, an international standard for differences between the richest and poorest cultures, there were considerably more inequality in China than in the US or UK.
Since China’s present leader, Xi Jinping, came to power in 2012, his reported philosophy has been to” serve the people” and offer” common prosperity”. That means more money, but more evenly shared out. When I visited both Beijing and Shanghai in late August 2024, the phrase” Popular success” was almost universal.
However, the residual effects of the pandemic and the US’s continued tensions are already causing turbulence in China’s market. The government’s central bank has announced a significant stimulus package that has, at least, sparked a protest on China’s stock market because the slump has been significant enough to enable it.
Therefore, extravagant prosperity and billionaires who appear to be above the law are undesirable these days. According to the Hurun Report information, China lost about 155 members of this elite team between 2023 and 2024, along to its recent forecast of 814 entrepreneurs.
Money comes at a cost
Beyond the fact that China’s economy has been sluggish over the past two years and that everyone’s situation has typically become more difficult to live in, there are some other factors that contribute to this sweltering of the environment for China’s super-rich.
Some of China’s most well-known entrepreneurs, including Jack Ma Yun, the founder of Alibaba, apparently left after receiving a democratic backlash for making inflammatory remarks about the Chinese government and official authorities.
And another extremely wealthy people may have used these high-profile cases as a great excuse to avoid potential problems by emigrating from China.
While not in the course of the total richest of the wealthy, 13, 800 entrepreneurs departed China in 2023 according to one document, mostly to the US, Canada and Singapore.
The concerns over the economics and politics of their home countries appear to be the driving forces behind the individuals in this class. The fact that it is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain goods and cash out of China highlights how hard these individuals want to have a base elsewhere.
We should n’t overstate the problem, though. Although a little less wealthy than in the past, it is still acceptable in China. However, it’s probably preferable to be very close to the Communist Party in people and to be very close to it in order to become wealthy while working in high-tech industries that the government benefits.
For instance, Wang Chuanfu, founder of Taiwanese electric car maker BYD, has doubled his prosperity in the area of a few decades. According to Forbes, he is presently worth US$ 20 billion. Due to his company’s strategic and economic goals and products, he is still largely safe to live in Shenzhen, where he is already based.
Unfortunately, though, the richest man in China since 2021 is Li Shanshan, who produces extremely non-technical bottled metal waters under the Nongfu company. Finally, a key factor in keeping out of problems if you are super-rich in China is both to be in super-high or extremely low-technology companies.
Kerry Brown is professor of Chinese Politics, chairman of the Lau China Institute, King’s College London
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