From a Quora answer (can't post link because they, you know, suffer from login-o-rrhea.)
> There's a quite famous post on Tianya community (one of the most prominent Chinese online community). There's a sub forum on Tianya specifically for people to showoff their wealth.
1) And one day, some guy start showing off his watches (IWC watch.)
2) Other people step in and start competing with him - more watches
3) Luxury cars (Lambos)
4) More Luxury cars, diamond rings
5) Then, things start to get interesting, some guy post this: Government approved mining permit. You ever heard about how Chinese coal mine owner could afford a dozen Hummers, private jets? Yeah...
6) And then, another guy post this, bank account with nearly 1 Billion Yuan (about 150 Million USD).
7) And the post got quiet for a bit until this guy show up, posting bunch of land ownership certificates (the little white note says: all fking go home!)
8) And the post got quiet for a long time, and then this guy step up and end the discussion once and for all:
It's an invitation to 中南海 ( Zhongnanhai ), and official envelopes of CPC ( Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China ).'
Here you have a very interesting social power structure of China:
Level 2: Possession of raw materials (mines, oil, steel...)
Level 3: possession of large amount of money
Level 4: possession of land.
Level 5: Access to the power core.
The guy might not even belong to core power, but the mere access to it, you have that kind of connection is valued more than any material wealth. There's your basic Chinese social structure in one sentence.
The closer you get to the power core, the more things you can get. Power is money. power > fiat money. I stopped browsing Tianya for a long time (around 2005/2006). There was another famous thread that is quite similar to this one but not as interesting as this one. Good to know this.
The information restriction and distortion imposed by the ruling party will simply destroy its own capability of processing information in the long run. Not a good thing for people live on the land. I wish it would not happen.
> There's a quite famous post on Tianya community (one of the most prominent Chinese online community). There's a sub forum on Tianya specifically for people to showoff their wealth.
1) And one day, some guy start showing off his watches (IWC watch.)
2) Other people step in and start competing with him - more watches
3) Luxury cars (Lambos)
4) More Luxury cars, diamond rings
5) Then, things start to get interesting, some guy post this: Government approved mining permit. You ever heard about how Chinese coal mine owner could afford a dozen Hummers, private jets? Yeah...
6) And then, another guy post this, bank account with nearly 1 Billion Yuan (about 150 Million USD).
7) And the post got quiet for a bit until this guy show up, posting bunch of land ownership certificates (the little white note says: all fking go home!)
8) And the post got quiet for a long time, and then this guy step up and end the discussion once and for all:
It's an invitation to 中南海 ( Zhongnanhai ), and official envelopes of CPC ( Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China ).'
Here you have a very interesting social power structure of China:
Level 1: Luxury goods (Phones, Watches, Cars, jewelry)
Level 2: Possession of raw materials (mines, oil, steel...)
Level 3: possession of large amount of money
Level 4: possession of land.
Level 5: Access to the power core.
The guy might not even belong to core power, but the mere access to it, you have that kind of connection is valued more than any material wealth. There's your basic Chinese social structure in one sentence.