China's new aristocrats

We read 0.1% of all households in China hold nearly half of the total wealth.

It is said there are 143,000 multimillionaires and 8,800 billionaires in Beijing and that there are 116,000 multimillionaires and 7,000 billionaires in Shanghai.

In order to be regarded as one of the city's "new aristocrats", or upper class ,high-rollers in Beijing need to spend at least 87 million yuan on property, cars and other luxury goods and to own at least three dwellings of their own, including a villa, like the 400-sq-m Ziyu Shanzhuang villa costing 24 million yuan, a luxury apartment in the downtown area for work purposes, and a Siheyuan courtyard house probably in Houhai.In their luxury homes, they also have rare porcelain and jade ware collections interspersed with works of ancient or contemporary painters.The rich in Beijing consider Cartier as the favorite luxury brand .

Said Rupert Hoogewerf, founder and publisher of the Hurun Report. "Many of them say they want to be a sort of upper class, rather than only being rich."

Most of them prefer investing in arts and they are willing to spend as much as 50,000 yuan for a year of piano classes, said the report.They probably drive a 1 million yuan Mercedes Benz R500 limousine and are also members of Yongfoo Lite, the most popular club for Beijing's wealthiest.Their wives usually frequent the Lan Club with friends, wear Bulgari platinum and diamond watches and drive BMW sports cars.
Japan's Osaka and Tokyo are the top travel destinations for spouses, and they attend musicals and the opera several times a year.
Annual spending of the rich in Beijing is estimated at about 5.7 million yuan, mainly for new cars, collections and about 1 million yuan for donations, the report said.

It was reported that a Shanxi coalmine boss bought 100 million yuan ($14.7 million) worth of villas in Beijing in the first half of this year while a blue-collar worker in the city needs to work and save for 90 years to be able to buy a second-hand 70-sq-m apartment.

SOYMB wonders if this is the “core values of socialism” which Xi Jinping, vice president of the state and president of the Central Party School recommends .