For decades it was a crime punishable by imprisonment or death. Then it became a mere social taboo to be furtively practiced away from disapproving eyes. But now, being wealthy is a cause for celebration, prompting thousands of Chinese millionaires to come out of the closet.
More than 20 years after Deng Xiaoping (
Quaffing cognac and champagne in the sumptuous setting of the Pudong Shangri La ballroom, the big players of the world's fastest-growing economy handed out honours to salesmen from leading global brands.
Among the guests were Yan Jiehe, a construction mogul and the second richest man in China with a fortune estimated at ?850 million (US$1.5 billion), and Timothy Chen, an Internet game pioneer, reportedly worth ?790 million. They and 589 people with annual incomes in excess of 10 million yuan (US$1.23 billion) voted on their favorite brands -- all names familiar in the West, but none of which they were likely to have heard of growing up in Mao Zedong's (
Their choices offered a snapshot of the huge change that the country has undergone -- particularly at the top of the income scale.
Among the prizes were favorite sports car: Ferrari; favorite yacht: Princess; best fashion label: Giorgio Armani; best cigar: Davidoff; favorite auction house: Christie's.
Among the few domestic products to get the seal of approval were the liquor maker Wuliangye, search engine Baidu and the 21st Century Business Herald, which was voted best newspaper.
Along with the awards came the release of a lifestyle survey, which found that the favorite leisure pursuit of this affluent minority is travel, with Australia, France and Hawaii the most popular destinations.
Golf, unheard of in China 20 years ago, was third on the list. Wine-tasting was eighth -- ahead of spending time with a spouse or raising children -- cigar-smoking 12th and parachuting 13th.
Critics have pointed to such idiosyncratic results as a sign of the unreliability of rich lists in China. But what is most remarkable is that such surveys can be carried out at all in a country still ruled by a nominally communist government.
When Rupert Hoogewerf, the founder of Hurun Report, which organized the awards ceremony, released his first Chinese fortune list in 1999 he was widely criticized. In the public eye being rich was associated with corruption. Few people wanted to cooperate and many of the people he outed as wealthy were targeted by tax officials, the media, and even kidnappers.
Now, however, people are more comfortable with their money, he said.
"There has been a revolution in the image of wealth. Twenty years ago it was a dirty word. Now it is a sign of success," he said.
He added: "The first generation didn't want to show they had money. They might buy a fine house, a nice watch and 20 cars, but they would not reveal them in public. The cars would stay in the garage. But today the second generation and successful young professionals are more likely to flaunt what they have."
Cartier's biggest single sale in China last year was of a diamond necklace valued at ?1.5 million, contributing to a 40 percent surge in sales. Cartier's east China regional manager, Josephine Chien, one of the guests at the banquet, said her firm had two boutiques in China in 2004 but now has 11. By 2010 this will have increased to almost 30 and China will have overtaken Japan as the company's second biggest market.
"There are a lot of people who have become rich all of a sudden and they like to wear things that get them recognition. They want to show people they have made it," she said.
It is not the same everywhere. While rich people in wealthy eastern regions such as Shanghai, Bei-jing, Guangdong Province and Zhejiang Province are happy to talk about their fortunes, Hoogewerf said, it is harder to glean information from their counterparts in western provinces, where tens of millions of people are still living on less than a dollar a day.
With income disparities widening, some question whether the publication of rich lists is good for social stability. At a press conference to announce the results of the lifestyle survey, a local journalist asked: "Don't you think this will make ordinary people hate the rich?"
The hundreds of wealthy people who contributed anonymously to the research appear to accept Hoogewerf's argument that openness will ease suspicion rather than foster resentment. Most have first-hand experience of what it is like to be poor.
"Perhaps some people are envious or angry, but I have never really thought about it. I'm a businessman," said Yu Pang Lin, a former rickshaw driver who now uses a large chunk of the fortune he has made from the Hilton Group to pay for ambulances and cataract operations in China's poorest regions. "When I was young we often didn't have enough to eat. Now I have huge assets, but I don't think about it much. I only see it in terms of how many people I can help."
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not