Beijing points way for children of the rich
He Huifeng
Jul 27, 2010
From www.scmp.com
It was a course for the true economic elite. Hundreds of children from the mainland's wealthiest families gathered to hear words of wisdom from the people who advise the country's top leaders.
The topics ranged from ancient emperors' secrets about managing the succession of power to the strategies used by the People's Liberation Army to keep its soldiers loyal.
The course, sponsored by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce in Beijing, caught the nation's attention and quickly turned into a hot internet discussion topic because it was tailored for what Xinhuanet called "the second generation of the rich", whose family companies have blossomed since the nation embraced capitalism in 1979.
More than 100 children of top private entrepreneurs, mostly aged between 22 and 29, and their parents, attended the classes from July 16-18, Xinhuanet reported. The fee per child was 4,800 yuan (HK$5,500), the report said, but the combined wealth of the families was dozens of billions of yuan.
The lecturers were professors from the mainland's top universities, and Communist Party scholars who have taught members of the Politburo, politicians, economists and chairmen of established companies.
A 10-year-old girl sat behind her mother, listening to the classes.
Her mother, an entrepreneur, said: "I hope my kid will take over the family business if it keeps running well. But I will let her make the choice herself and let her do what she wants."
The programme's focus was on how to inherit fortunes and continue the family business.
The class on the secrets of handling power succession was the first one on the first day for the young heirs. Officials from the PLA Academy of Military Sciences were invited to teach the value of loyalty to the party and the people.
The aim was to prepare rich children for their responsibilities, but most of them seemed uninterested. According to the report, many of the young people were more interested in talking about their luxury cars and some even skipped the lectures.
Yuan Qingpeng, an organiser of the programme and the deputy chairman of the China Association for the Promotion of Non-governmental Sci-tech Enterprises, said their behaviour was understandable. "The willpower of the young people is not as good as their parents'," he said.
The classes for rich children started two years ago and have become increasingly popular, according to mainland media. Some top universities, such as Peking and Tsinghua in Beijing and Fudan University in Shanghai, also offer courses of varying length to well-to-do children, with course fees of between 10,000 and 300,000 yuan.
According to a survey unveiled at the MBA Forum held in Jiangsu province in May, it is estimated that three million private entrepreneurs in China will hand their businesses to their heirs over the next five to 10 years. About 90 per cent want their children to carry on the business.
However, up to 95 per cent of the children are unwilling to do so, the forum's survey found, and one of the reasons was that the average life of most private enterprises was only 3-1/2 years, much shorter than the average 40 to 50 years of some foreign companies.
Internet users across the mainland criticised the courses. "I'm ashamed of those universities, professionals and officials who attend or organise this kind of course for the rich," one person said on the Tianya online forum. "They should teach the public how to make society fair and hopeful, rather than encouraging privilege by only teaching the rich."
Another, on the 163.com forum, wrote: "The gap between the rich and the poor is already too big. The courses just make the situation worse."
Another said: "The classes for rich kids include horse riding, swordsmanship, golf and wine tasting ... And now they have become more absurd, teaching political tricks and emperors' secrets."
He Huifeng
Jul 27, 2010
From www.scmp.com
It was a course for the true economic elite. Hundreds of children from the mainland's wealthiest families gathered to hear words of wisdom from the people who advise the country's top leaders.
The topics ranged from ancient emperors' secrets about managing the succession of power to the strategies used by the People's Liberation Army to keep its soldiers loyal.
The course, sponsored by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce in Beijing, caught the nation's attention and quickly turned into a hot internet discussion topic because it was tailored for what Xinhuanet called "the second generation of the rich", whose family companies have blossomed since the nation embraced capitalism in 1979.
More than 100 children of top private entrepreneurs, mostly aged between 22 and 29, and their parents, attended the classes from July 16-18, Xinhuanet reported. The fee per child was 4,800 yuan (HK$5,500), the report said, but the combined wealth of the families was dozens of billions of yuan.
The lecturers were professors from the mainland's top universities, and Communist Party scholars who have taught members of the Politburo, politicians, economists and chairmen of established companies.
A 10-year-old girl sat behind her mother, listening to the classes.
Her mother, an entrepreneur, said: "I hope my kid will take over the family business if it keeps running well. But I will let her make the choice herself and let her do what she wants."
The programme's focus was on how to inherit fortunes and continue the family business.
The class on the secrets of handling power succession was the first one on the first day for the young heirs. Officials from the PLA Academy of Military Sciences were invited to teach the value of loyalty to the party and the people.
The aim was to prepare rich children for their responsibilities, but most of them seemed uninterested. According to the report, many of the young people were more interested in talking about their luxury cars and some even skipped the lectures.
Yuan Qingpeng, an organiser of the programme and the deputy chairman of the China Association for the Promotion of Non-governmental Sci-tech Enterprises, said their behaviour was understandable. "The willpower of the young people is not as good as their parents'," he said.
The classes for rich children started two years ago and have become increasingly popular, according to mainland media. Some top universities, such as Peking and Tsinghua in Beijing and Fudan University in Shanghai, also offer courses of varying length to well-to-do children, with course fees of between 10,000 and 300,000 yuan.
According to a survey unveiled at the MBA Forum held in Jiangsu province in May, it is estimated that three million private entrepreneurs in China will hand their businesses to their heirs over the next five to 10 years. About 90 per cent want their children to carry on the business.
However, up to 95 per cent of the children are unwilling to do so, the forum's survey found, and one of the reasons was that the average life of most private enterprises was only 3-1/2 years, much shorter than the average 40 to 50 years of some foreign companies.
Internet users across the mainland criticised the courses. "I'm ashamed of those universities, professionals and officials who attend or organise this kind of course for the rich," one person said on the Tianya online forum. "They should teach the public how to make society fair and hopeful, rather than encouraging privilege by only teaching the rich."
Another, on the 163.com forum, wrote: "The gap between the rich and the poor is already too big. The courses just make the situation worse."
Another said: "The classes for rich kids include horse riding, swordsmanship, golf and wine tasting ... And now they have become more absurd, teaching political tricks and emperors' secrets."
