New China Hand: Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
Who wants to be a millionaire?
I do! Especially the cool kind, like Mr. Xiong Shuihua in Xinyu, Jiangxi province. A self-made steel millionaire, Xiong returned to the village where he grew up and spent a reported £4million bulldozing old huts to replace them with modern homes for the 72 families living there. He will also provide villas for another 18 families as well as daily meals for children and the elderly. Awesome.
At the other end of the moral scale -according to reports – is coal bureau Deputy Chief, Wei Pengyuan, who got busted big time possessing an apartment stuffed with 200 million yuan (about US$ 33 million). That’s even more impressive than it first seems, because the biggest denomination in the mainland is the 100 yuan note, so his stash would probably weigh around three tonnes!
Get used to Chinese cash (even more so than these two guys) because its use is becoming more and more widespread as trading and investment restrictions are eased. In Hong Kong this month, for example, the daily ¥20,000 limit for currency exchanges was abolished to facilitate a share-trading link up with Shanghai.
Hand on to your Benjamin’s for the time being, though. But how long til it’s all about the Mao Zedongs?
Have a prosperous week, folks!
Selected Sources:
The Guest Room 
Amazing! On both ends it is amazing. The juxtaposition of greed and philanthropy is mind boggling.
Indeed, Brielle! China is nothing if not a nation of contrasts, and those contrasts are so extreme!