There are not 70 people in the National People's Congress. There are 2,987. This graph is quite misleading.

Yes, there is something wrong with this graph. First, the National People's Congress has close to 3000 members. Second, anybody who knows anything about China's political system knows that the National People's Congress is just a rubber stamp body. The vast majority of the members of the National People's Congress have no real political power. The graph purports to show how much the political elites of China are benefiting financially but it is pointless to consider the National People's Congress because it is powerless. The object of study should have been the State Council which has 35 members.

By the way, I'd venture to guess that the cumulative net worth of the 35 members of the State Council vastly outweighs the cumulative net worth of the US Congress, President and Supreme Court.

The amusing thing is that in China if you want to get anything done, you have to give a cut to some Party guy and the the higher ups don't just get cash but shares of companies for "overseeing" or "advising" on the project. Imagine having a healthy chunk of shares in some state-owned monopoly and that is how the higher ups have net worth in the billions. But in the US, the soft money contributions are in the tens of millions at most. This is chump change in China. It is so cheap and easy for big business in the US to have a disproportionate effect in the political process it is ridiculous. It is not the same as the blatant corruption of China but the US does have its own problems.

Am I reading that graph wrong? I am seeing about 1.25 BILLION per party leader. So much for the increasingly misnamed Peoples Republic of China.

Per richest party leader, yes. But there are millions of party members that live modest lives

Though the new president of China tend to crack down on corruption. But it seems not easy, need take long-term effort.

So the PRC learned from our own gop. Good for them.

I'm impressed by your intelligent contribution.

It's all about the crony-capitalist--It doesn't matter what letter is after their name. The Republicrat Regime is in lock step with the rest of the world's elite. America is the last piece to grab before the power is finally in the hands of a very few.
http://www.freedomrings1776...

My mother's family is Chinese, and we've got plenty of friends in the Communist Party. And this is pretty darned accurate.

Now, my question: so what? It's Chinese culture. China's always had a wealthy political-economic elite on the coasts, and when they prosper, the country generally prospers. You say, of course, well, that's bad for the rule of law, and the rule of law is the second biggest predictor of economic success after free market economics. And I say, yes, that's true in Western cultures. But we're close to unique in world-history for just how little a concept of social authority we have. We have to have law to restrain us because there's precious little else. Look at Japan, the ROC, Singapore, and South Korea if you don't believe me. All sorts of crony situations, Western-style democracy in name only (seriously, the left's only won about one term or so in all the long democracy history of all four countries), and everyone keeps predicting a liberal breakthrough even though nothing happens. And all three are just as prosperous as we are, and the PRC is rapidly coming up.

Face it, Western style liberalism is inherently limited in scope, unrealistic at the logical extreme (which we're rapidly approaching with modern social liberalism), and, ultimately, very doomed. I'm not celebrating that, of course, since I consider myself a libertarian-conservative and very much an (albeit rebellious) child of the Enlightenment. But we need to get past this sort of meaningless multiculturalism of skin colors and foods and get at the brass tacks of values. We need to ask the hard questions. Because, ultimately, the only measure of a society's value is whether it works in providing an immersive framework for human flourishing. East Asia, at least as much as the West, has turned in a bravura performance on that front.

The one question we can ask on that account is: will it continue to work? Is it stable? Chinese history is fairly pessimistic there. When things turn rough, when the proverbial mandate of heaven falls, interior peasants tend to get restive, and they get into these awful, puritanical radical movements that slaughter everyone who's either wealthy or in some way "open." And ironically, for all their anti-Western posturing, they tend to use viciously mutilated versions of Western ideologies as rallying points (since, of course, they can't use filiopietistic Chinese tradition). Witness Maoism or the Taiping Rebellion (which worshiped their leader Hong Xiuquan as the "brother of Jesus"). Will the ideology of democratic Springs be next?

For all our sakes, let's pray the Chinese elite stays fat, productive, and happy. I don't think any of us could bear otherwise.

Your question - so what?

Chinese peoples collective reply - BECAUSE IT'S FUCKING WRONG, THAT'S WHAT!

I live in China and hear complaints on an almost daily basis about the Chinese govt. Seems like every govt official and their family in China is despised.

Here's a good reason why - http://shanghaiist.com/2013...

So what, my arse...........

Indeed. Although they are certainly not alone in this, the Chinese really look up to the rich. For many, money is what gives their lives meaning. The emulation of robber barons has far reaching consequences. Environmental devastation. Social fragmentation. It isn't difficult to add to the list.

I know a Taiwanese woman in mainland China who has a business where she helps rich Chinese people (read: cashed up govt officials) funnel their assets out of China.

It is wrong on a huge level. I'm just very surprised that there has not been huge riots across the country. The Chinese govt are good at creating smoke screens - often in the form of the Japanese.

You ask, "So what?" But it seems you have answered your own question. You seem to know your Chinese history and history indicates that this kind of rampant corruption is unsustainable. And when China blows up, things get ugly. That's what.

My God. I presume that you have not lived and worked in China in the past decade. I'm writing this from China. I have countless Chinese friends who are hard-working would-be entrepreneurs -- entrepreneurs in terms of effort but paupers in terms of rewards -- who are frustrated to tears by the fact that their opportunities are damped and trimmed and snatched at every turn by people in positions of 'authority'. You seem to have the idea that there is some kind of tremendous trickle-down effect from all this flagrant corruption and grabbing of money, assets, power, control, resources, etc. Nothing could be farther from the truth. You should spend some time here. (One second though, with "plenty of friends in the CCP", you would see nothing of what I'm describing, because you'd be on the wrong side of the equation to get the view of someone on the receiving end of the gov't's hand around the throat of the economy.) If you did live and work here, and worked from the position of someone truly without 'background' -- guanxi -- I think you'd find that the "prosperity" you are describing is extremely lopsided and not at all worthy of the name in any meaningful sense.

There are thousands of "so what"s, but I'll name just one to be specific: so what if virtually no one without gov't connection can create a high-tech startup because (1) it will be snuffed out by an SOE in a competing area, (2) employees won't accept stock as compensation because there is no real corporate governance and they therefore don't trust their boss's promise to give them anything other than cash on the barrelhead, etc. etc. The so what is that China, which is overflowing with engineering talent, should be pouring out entrepreneurial businesses and their products but is instead smothering under a wet blanket of stodgy SOEs with their money-grubbing leadership. One could go on all day listing so whats. The fact that you come from a Chinese family and could write such a thing amazes me.

While I'm at it, I might as well name another obvious so what: a country, no matter how large and apparently powerful it is, can't operate some 70+% of its economy at a loss while feeding it by bank lending indefinitely. But that's what happens, naturally, when 70+% of your economy is owned and operated by goofball cronies who are not selected for their competence or ability to turn a profit but rather by their party connections and family background etc. Google for "local government debt in China" to see the million articles about how this is working out.

it is important to remember that the PRC government still maintains a huge presence in the economy, and has a controlling interest in virtually every major firm in every sector of the economy--they restructured many of them in 70s and 80s so that they run in a more free market manner, but it is not a free market and political concerns are as important as business decisions. Chinese economic reforms over the last few decades have lifted millions out of poverty, and made the government officials who have overseen this process really rich. China is not a free market, it is a true neomercantilist market where international trade and foreign investment, domestic economies, are seen as a means to enrich the state treasury. Its worth also noting that party membership is about maybe 6% of the population of mainland China--membership in the CCP is like in Soviet Communist Party or NSDAP--valuable. Joining the party of a one party state is often a path to immense wealth/

This doesn't change the fact that corruption is rampant in China, but...

1. With Chinese state capitalism, the CEOs and party work together by design. It is only natural that the 70 richest Chinese are likely to be party members.

2. The party has MILLIONS of members. One would be foolish to assume they are all billionaires. In fact, much of the corruption comes from underpaid party officials.

Im reading this from China right now. I live in Haining and it is defiantly something people talk about, but only in private. In public, things have to be REALLY REALLY bad to get people out on the street about it, like the pictures of the regional governor with a bunch of different expensive watches. Even then, most of the public ire was vented on microblogs like Weibo where this is still an element of anonymity.

Actually...based on recent travel experience..it was not banned.

It's not, at least at the moment. Doubt an article like this will do much either, it isn't really saying a great deal that isn't already out there. The recent blocking of the NYT is a good indicator of how it works here. They investigated Wen and published information about his and his families personal wealth, and got promptly blocked. However, websites (like The Guardian, and pretty much all other news sources in English) that re-reported this information were fine.

The GFW is irritating as hell, but certainly not as restrictive as you seem to think, at least not in the case of information published in English (rather than Chinese).

No, but soon will be. Test it here: http://www.greatfirewallofc...