Don't be so sensitive to billionaires

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, September 26, 2003

Don't be so sensitive to billionaires

When Forbes Global CEO Conference was held in Shanghai, billionaires again attracted people��s attention. Former Forbes-listed Chinese billionaires, such as Mou Qizhong, Liu Xiaoqing, Yang Rong, Wu Zhijian, Chen Shunli, Zhou Zhengyi, Yang Bin and Qiao Jinling, who got into troubles due to various reasons, were mentioned again and again. Meanwhile, those who attended this conference, such as Liu Yonghao, Liu Yongxing, Guo Guangchang, Xu Min, Tao Xinkang, Zhang Yue, Huang Qiaoling, Wu Ying and Yang Lan, have also received a special concern.

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When Forbes Global CEO Conference was held in Shanghai, billionaires again attracted people's attention. Former Forbes-listed Chinese billionaires, such as Mou Qizhong, Liu Xiaoqing, Yang Rong, Wu Zhijian, Chen Shunli, Zhou Zhengyi, Yang Bin and Qiao Jinling, who got into troubles due to various reasons, were mentioned again and again. Meanwhile, those who attended this conference, such as Liu Yonghao, Liu Yongxing, Guo Guangchang, Xu Min, Tao Xinkang, Zhang Yue, Huang Qiaoling, Wu Ying and Yang Lan, have also received a special concern.

There seems to be in existence a kind of "collective unconsciousness" in China, i.e. people are too sensitive to billionaires. People's concerns on those billionaires are focused on two points: first of all, why so many billionaires broke the law? Secondly, how many of them can keep on law-abiding?

As the chief editor of the FORBES magazine Steve Forbes is not like that. When talking of the Chinese billionaires in jail, he is not at all embarrassed, saying his magazine will continue to issue the list of billionaires in the Chinese mainland.

We can get some tips from the calm attitude of Forbes magazine: although we are not as influential as the Forbes, we should still take a calm and composed attitude towards billionaires.

Don't Take the Rich as People of Perfection

As Steve Forbes says, companies will be confronted with various problems both in China and in US, and someone becomes a new billionaire and others are dropped out (China Youth Daily, Set 19). If there were a list of the poor, wouldn't it be the same case?

Not long ago, the magazine of China's Taxation issued the tax payment list of 2002. Careful persons would have found out that only four of the top 100 Forbes-listed billionaires and their companies were listed in the top 50 taxpayers of private enterprises (Beijing Youth Daily, Set.15). On the one hand, this shows that China's taxation system are not perfect and there are some loopholes and on the other, this indicates that the conception of paying tax according to the law hasn't taken root in the hearts of the common people, according to analysts. As there are loopholes, people will exploit the advantages no matter whether they are the poor or the rich.

So it's better to consider the rich as common persons rather than as people of perfection.

Unwise to Impose Extra Requirements on the Rich

Billionaires' enterprises not only produce a lot of wealth for the society, but also provide numerous job chances as agreed by everyone. For example, Wu Ying's UT Star Company paid the tax of $ 150 million dollars in 2002, ranking the top in the list of tax payment.

However, it is clear that they set up companies in order to earn more profits, not to solve the problem of employment or increase the fiscal revenue. This is the basic point of departure for running an economic entity. As they've provided numerous job chances and contributed more to taxation revenue, we should not impose any extra requirement on them. This is the attitude we should take.

Most owners of private enterprises accumulate their wealth in a lawful way, but they should repay more to our society and be more duty-bound, according to Guo Guangchang, the boss of Shanghai Fosun High Technology (Group) Co., Ltd., one of the billionaires on the 9th Forbes-list in the Chinese mainland. (China Youth Daily, Set.19).

We don't know what "return" and "duty" here refer to and why there is a "more" here. However, I am sure that if a rich person doesn't give any donation and do some benefaction work, he will be blamed as one of the unscrupulous rich. As a matter of fact, some rich persons offended many people because they have turned down a number of extra demands or expressed an unwilling attitude. This is one of the reasons why the rich are unable to live an easy life.

The business of the poor should be a matter of the government. If the wealth is amassed in a lawful way, it is legal for the rich to possess.

It is unreasonable to ask the rich to do goodwill work and it goes contrary to the principle of goodwill work to raise extra demands. This is what I want to lay stress on.

Improper to Set a Bottom-line for the Success of a Rich

As introduced, only 29 billionaires of the Top 50 Forbes-listed Chinese billionaires of 2000 are still in the list of 2002, and only 9 of the Top 50 billionaires of 1999 are among the members of 2002's top 50.

Some billionaires broke the law, and others failed to be sorted out. To make clear this phenomenon, a point of view by Steven Forbes is worthwhile for us to muse upon: today's success doesn't mean that for tomorrow.

What surprises us is that it is the very mentality that has driven some billionaires to a deadlock. Once they failed to make any progress or to be chosen or surpassed by others, they will incur pressures from various aspects. So, the rich are on tenterhooks day and night, afraid of setbacks and not confident in the success. As a matter of fact, many Chinese don't want to get rich and they don't like others to know about it even if they've got rich just like some people who don't want to be selected as an advanced model. An apt popular saying goes like this, they don't know "how far is the road ahead!"

By PD Online staff Liu Wei

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