Saturday, March 03, 2018

Chinese State Capitalism

  • There are more than 100 billionaires in China's legislature and its top advisory body, including the CEOs of Tencent, JD.com, Baidu and Xiaomi.
  • Their combined net worth is $624 billion, twice that of Ireland's GDP or more than three times that of New Zealand's.
 Research from Hurun Report, found China minted 206 billionaires in the last year, taking the country's total to 819 billionaires 40% more billionaires than in the US.

The National People's Congress (NPC), which serves as the country's legislature and will be responsible for voting on scrapping presidential term limits in about two weeks, contains 45 billionaires.

And there are a 59 billionaires in the party's top advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. The CPPCC includes entrepreneurs, academics, and even celebrities, who advise the government and legislative arms.

The founder of one of China's biggest online retailers JD.com, the CEO of smartphone maker Xiaomi, and the CEO of search giant Baidu. Also included in the National People's Congress is the country's richest man, Pony' Ma, the CEO of Tencent, who is worth $47 billion.
With some workers lucky to earn a few hundred dollars a month, the net worth of these leaders illustrates China's vast income inequality. While state media has reported that millions of people now have better working and living conditions, 40 million people still live in poverty.
A third of the country's wealth is owned by 1% of households, and 25% of the poorest households own just 1% of China's wealth, according to a study from Peking University.

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