|
A new and highly anticipated report from the Hu Run Report – a monthly magazine specializing in tracking the development of China's private sector – has shed new light on the so-called 'New Aristocracy' in the Middle Kingdom. The report has analyzed the lifestyles of more than 100 members of mainland China's (i.e. excluding Hong Kong and Macao) super rich upper class and compiled a general statistical ID for the "average" very-well-to-do Chinese :
- The typical 'new aristocrat' is a male in his 40s, living in a villa in Shanghai with his wife, whilst owning an apartment in Beijing. He also has an approximately 17-year-old son attending a high-end British university.
- He spends an average of 4.57 million RMB (672,000 USD) a year on himself – most of it on a lavish personal lifestyle. Up till now he has spent a total of 83 million RMB (12.1 million USD).
- He has four cars in his garages, including a Rolls-Royce Phantom for himself and a Mercedes ML500 for his wife.
- He likes to play golf and has paid 3.5 million RMB (510,000 USD) on memberships at golf clubs in both Shanghai and Beijing. Once in a while he and his friends charter a private jet and whizz off for a weekend of golf at a luxury resort on Hainan Island, China's favourite holiday destination.
- He has four watches, including a Vacheron Constantin and an Oyster Perpetual Datejust (around 100,000 USD a piece), and his wedding ring is likely from very high-end American jeweller Tiffany's.
- Besides smoking only Davidoff Classic No. 2 cigarettes, the Chinese 'new aristocrat' has recently acquired a taste for fine wines, with Chateau Lafitte Rothschild (at over 33,000 USD a crate) among his favourites.
- He is becoming increasingly involved in charities, contributing to causes like the recent catastrophic earthquake in south-western China. According to the Hu Run Report China's 100 richest people donated around 120 million USD to the May 12 national earthquake relief fund, approximately 10% of the entire donated sum.
According to Rupert Hoogewerf, editor-in-chief of the Hu Run Report, the total number of super rich in China number around 50,000 people, 108 of whom are actual USD billionaires (the second-highest number of such billionaires per country after the United States). Approximately 150,000 mainland Chinese can be labelled as 'tier-two' among the wealthy and powerful, with an average lifetime expenditure of roughly "only" 38 million RMB. By comparison the average Chinese factory worker, of which there are several hundred million, earns about 16,800 to 20,400 RMB (2,400 to 3,000 USD) a year.
Full story in English
News category: China
Published on this site: Jul. 26, 2008
Source:chinadaily.com.cn
|
