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China's rich get richer despite slowing economy: Forbes
by Staff Writers
Shanghai (AFP) Oct 16, 2013


$2.5 bn projects mark Mao birth in hometown: report
Beijing (AFP) Oct 17, 2013 - More than $2.5 billion is being poured into the hometown of Communist China's founding father Mao Zedong for projects marking the 120th anniversary of his birth, local media reported, prompting outrage Thursday.

Mao, who led the Communist Party to victory in China's civil war, was born in Shaoshan, in the central province of Hunan, on December 26, 1893.

Xiangtan city, which includes Shaoshan, is spending 15.5 billion yuan ($2.54 billion) on 16 projects linked to the occasion, the Changsha Evening News said, including renovating a tourist centre and preserving Mao's former residence.

The works also include broader infrastructure projects, such as high-speed rail stations and highways, to impress the expected influx of visitors.

Local authorities in Xiangtan have hailed the commemoration by saying its "importance overrides any other at the moment", the Global Times, which is close to the ruling party, reported earlier this week.

But Chinese Internet users reacted to the 15.5 billion yuan sum -- which far exceeds a 1.95 billion figure reported earlier this week -- with indignation on the country's popular micro-blogging platforms.

"How much money does it cost to deal with pollution?" wrote one poster on Sina Weibo. "How much does it cost to provide medical insurance? How much to offer students from poor districts free lunch?

"I can't believe they're spending this much money on a dead man, a controversial dead man."

Another said: "Xiangtan's economy is not doing well and a lot of people have been laid off by state-owned enterprises. And they spent so lavishly! I am so 'proud' of them. Who are those Xiangtan officials really serving?"

The comments underscore the thorny issue of such lavish outlays at a time when many ordinary Chinese are lashing out at government officials over corruption.

The city's spending is part of a broader commemoration of the Mao anniversary in China.

The late leader's legacy is principally associated in the West with horrors such as China's Great Leap Forward, when tens of millions died through famine, and the Cultural Revolution.

But within China, many focus on Mao's earlier revolutionary years and his role in the 1949 founding of the People's Republic.

The country's current leader Xi Jinping, has sought to capitalise on the sentiment by invoking Maoist doctrine in some of his rhetoric.

Jeffrey Wasserstrom, professor of history at the University of California Irvine, said the 120th anniversary will see an effort to put Mao "into a context as the person who began China's resurgence to world-power status, as opposed to what the Western associations with Mao often now are".

"That's an ongoing kind of disconnect in the way some Chinese think about Mao," he said.

China's 400 richest people became $150 billion wealthier this year, Forbes magazine said Wednesday, despite a slowdown in the world's second largest economy.

The vast increase -- an average of almost $400 million each -- highlights the growing inequality between the Communist country's superrich and the millions who still live in poverty.

"The rich are getting richer," Forbes Shanghai bureau chief Russell Flannery told a press conference as the magazine unveiled its annual China rich list.

"The rapid growth of wealth in China seems to be out of line with the Chinese economic slowdown," he said.

The net assets of the top 100 richest people in China soared 44 percent from a year earlier to $316 billion, the magazine said, while the number of dollar billionaires rose to a record high of 168.

That came even as China's economy has slowed. The Chinese economy expanded 7.7 percent last year, the worst performance since 1999.

Forbes attributed the increase in wealth to growth in select industries, such as the Internet, auto, entertainment and property sectors.

Wang Jianlin, head of property giant Wanda Group and buyer of US cinema chain AMC Entertainment, topped the list with a net worth of $14.1 billion.

His fortune leaped from $8 billion last year, helped by a rebound in property prices and his investment in AMC.

Forbes had already announced last month that Wang had taken the top spot. Another ranking by the independent Hurun Report also put him at number one.

Last year's leader, beverage tycoon Zong Qinghou, slipped to second place in the Forbes list, even though his wealth increased 12 percent to $11.2 billion.

Robin Li, founder of China's homegrown search engine Baidu, dropped to third but his wealth jumped 37 percent from last year to $11.1 billion.

In a surprise new entry to the ranking Li Hejun, chairman of clean energy firm Hanergy Holding Group, appeared for the first time in fourth place with a net worth of $10.9 billion.

Yang Huiyan, who inherited a majority stake in property developer Country Garden, was China's richest woman with a fortune of $7.2 billion giving her seventh place.

As well as Robin Li, two other Internet billionaires made the top ten.

Ma Huateng, owner of social gaming and networking company Tencent, took fifth place with net worth of $10.2 billion, jumping nearly 60 percent year-on-year due to a surge in his Hong Kong-listed firm's share price.

And Jack Ma, founder of China's leading e-commerce firm Alibaba, ranked eighth as his fortune more than doubled to $7.1 billion from $3.4 billion last year.

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