NOW decades old, China’s economic boom has brought a better life to hundreds of millions. But it has also created new problems, such as pollution and inequality. And, for the super-rich, a moral conundrum: how, wealthy parents wonder, can they raise children who do not behave like arrogant brats?
China now has an estimated 1.09m people with personal wealth of at least 10m yuan ($1.6m), and 67,000 “super-rich” ones with assets above 100m yuan, including 213 dollar billionaires. Their children, the “second-generation rich”, or fuerdai, are the object of rapt attention in national media and a mixture of envy and revulsion among ordinary folk.
They can be seen driving outrageously posh cars which, thanks to stiff import duties, can cost $1m or more. Some of them post ostentatious pictures and vulgar rants about their exploits on social media. Wang Sicong, the son of one of China’s richest tycoons, recently aroused a storm of criticism for saying that his main criterion when selecting a girlfriend was that she must be “buxom”. He also...Continue reading
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