

The Bling Dynasty – The Nouveau Riche in China - tomsun
http://www.gq.com/news-politics/201501/chinas-richest

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rahimnathwani
One of my favourite slang phrases in Chinese is 土豪, for which the closest
English equivalent I can find is nouveau riche.

Gold-coloured consumer products (e.g. champagne-coloured iPhone) are described
as 土豪金 (金=gold）。On Taobao, this will often appear alongside other colour
choices (white, black, silver) described in more plain language.

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xster
It's a rather diminutive term for the newly rich. The tone is almost like dirt
barons.

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bobbles
So the same way that 'new money' is used to describe newly rich people? (as in
"look at his car, you can tell he's 'new money")

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mimighost
Actually a little different. In chinese, the term "tu hao" can be also used
with a humorous context, not entirely critical.

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unimportant
Wealth is a funny thing in China, because it hardly buys you a real lifestyle,
as the author already hinted.

I would argue that broke foreign students partying in Shanghai have more fun
than local multi millionaires struggling to find stuff to buy and places to go
that give them more status and better entertainment than average mid
management joe.

If you never thought that getting rich as a way to attain happiness was a trap
in the west, then going to China will open your eyes...

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kyllo
This is why they all have an exit strategy--buying real estate in and sending
their kids to university in the US, Canada, and ANZ.

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seanmcdirmid
It also helps given that those countries don't have extradition treaties with
China, so embezzling money in China, sending it abroad with your kid and wife,
and then making a last minute escape before you are caught and executed is a
good strategy (see naked officials).

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throwaway9889
The newly wealthy are pretty fascinating. The closest i can think of in the US
that would relate to them are professional athletes.

[http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-
arcadia-i...](http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-arcadia-
immigration-architecture-20140511-story.html#page=1)

I would suspect in the near future (5-10) years there will be lots of "Antoine
Walker" stories coming out of china. The one way to easily go through all your
money and have nothing to show for it is to live like a rockstar in the US.

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mc32
Perhaps, but the Chinese attitude towards money tends to be different [and
deeply ingrained over centuries], I think. Broadly speaking, they tend to
invest and save --yes, they might invest and save in lousy deals, but the
intent is to make money work rather than outright squander it as some movie or
athletic stars in the US might. But, who knows, maybe the mindset will
breakdown and they will squander it --ie lose it all in places like Macau.
Now, for sure, some will go Moscow-nuveau rich style and and waste a lot in
gaudy and flashy items but I just think a lower percentage will end up
destitute (as say, some lottery winners in NAm might)

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rasz_pl
seems they are mostly investing in ghost cities property, that will work
really well

~~~
mc32
Right, but what else can they reasonably 'invest' in? Do they have other
options? I suppose they can 'sit' on their money. They need to park their
money somewhere. People who make money typically didn't make it by idling
whatever they started with.

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rafaelm
I find this subject of all the new rich in China very interesting. Is there
any book or documentary that explains this phenomenon? I don't understand how
this happened in China.

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Hates_
The One Hour China Book gives a very brief insight into the mega trends that
caused the massive growth there

[http://www.amazon.com/One-Hour-China-Book-
University/dp/0991...](http://www.amazon.com/One-Hour-China-Book-
University/dp/0991445023/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420502835&sr=8-1&keywords=one+hour+china+book)

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FLUX-YOU
>There are also 60,000 Chinese people worth at least $200 million—another line
of demarcation between being wealthy and being a photon cannon of currency.

Jesus christ, spend your minerals and gas.

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cylinder
That's $12 trillion dollars. 71% of USA GDP. Although I imagine much of that
is tied up in speculative real estate which is on its way down in value.

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lawnchair_larry
As long as China continues producing more rich people, it isn't going down in
value any time soon. It has no mortgage, and is completely detached from the
American market.

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seanmcdirmid
Until China introduces a property tax to get all that unused property [1] in
use working for the economy. And a lot of people have borrowed from banks,
family, and loan sharks to speculate in real estate; the landing won't be as
soft as the wumao want you to believe.

[1] 3-40% of all apartments in Beijing aren't even renovated, and that is
supposed to be a first tier hot market.

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unimportant
Too much of the economy relies on the already shaky real estatemarket for this
to happen in the near future imo. A sales tax on third properties and beyond
was introduced in Shanghai to curb speculation and couples simply divorced or
used straw men to avoid having to pay it.

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seanmcdirmid
The straight up property tax (per property, no exceptions) will be added at
some point. Municipalities can't make so much money by selling land anymore,
and the central government doesn't kick back enough tax revenue. Not only
that, but they have committed to eventually providing social services to
migrants, like you know, schooling for their kids. That has to be paid for
someway.

But they will definitely hold off for now, a property tax would cause huge
devaluations in property prices inflated by the lack of one. But if we get a
crash anyways, it will be easy just to add it at the bottom. The question is
what is next, with transaction reaching a very low bottom to keep prices from
falling, we seem to be in for a long bout of stagnation which will drag down
the larger economy even more than if a crash would just happen and we could be
over with it.

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unimportant
Local government and companies have borrowed way too much based on real estate
value that a crash would be allowed to happen based on what I have read, as it
would have much broader implications than in the US.

Rents in Shanghai have remained mostly stagnant from what I've seen for the
last 2 years, so it's good for tenants.

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seanmcdirmid
Rents at the high end are completely stagnant, which is why those new
apartments aren't being renovated. Not having a property tax leads to hoarding
and not putting property to productive use, which screws everyone but the
princelings.

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manticore_alpha
Money doesn't buy taste, clearly.

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serve_yay
Maybe not, but money does dictate what "taste" means.

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boracay
Not really. "Luxury" though.

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seanmcdirmid
Or taking trips to Boracay during Chinese new years.

