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China's rich feeling insecure
www.chinanews.cn 2005-11-03 15:42:32
Chinanews, Nov. 3 - On July 4, 2005, Minsheng Life Insurance's "Private
entrepreneur entire family combined accidental injury insurance" policy
was introduced to the Beijing and Shanghai markets. What caught people's
attention was that this policy for the first time provided kidnap-related
medical and rescue services in these two metropolises.
Prior to this, there are many similar types of insurance policies in
other parts of the country, targeting China's rich people who have
increasing inner insecurity towards the risks of kidnapping for ransom.
Father of entrepreneur kidnapped ten times
Wu Jinyong (pseudonym) bought a "kidnap insurance policy" for his father
this May. Although the family is wealthy, this local entrepreneur could
not escape the complications of his family being kidnapped not once, but
many times.
Wu Jinyong's father Wu Hua (also a pseudonym) has Alzheimer and has been
kidnapped more than ten times when he ventured outside his home by
himself. "Every time it cost between 80,000 to 100,000 RMB (US$10,000 to
$12,000) and many kidnap gangs have learned about his habits and it was
hard to protect him. We ran out of measures and finally have to lock my
father inside the house." Wu Jinyong seems helpless about the situation.
One of Wu Jinyong's neighbors said that Wu's family lived an ostentatious
lifestyle, with two sedans running around town and attracting much
attention. The family home is very luxurious and takes up a lot of ground
and therefore obviously becomes a target of local kidnap gangs. On top of
this the old man has Alzheimer and can offer little resistance and can
hardly remember how he was kidnapped, making it difficult to track down
his kidnappers.
Another of Wu Jinyong's neighbors said that Wu was a businessman and has
a complicated social background and may have enemies, thus increasing the
probability of his family being kidnapped.
Society indifferent to plight of the wealthy
In fact, in the city where Wu Jinyong lives, kidnap is not a strange
word. A friend of Wu, the owner of a shoe factory, has to pay 300,000 RMB
to ransom his son from kidnap gangs.
An insider recalled that the kidnap gangs circulated the rumor that the
shoe factory owner made his money "improperly" and have accumulated
"blood money" so they were merely helping the poor with the unjust
desserts of the rich.
"What is strange was that society's editorials did not favor the victim.
Many people viewed this matter as something of a show, a crowd pleaser."
From this person's point of view, the entire society has a complex
revenge motive towards the wealthy. On the one hand, rich people become
the focus of gossip because of their social status, with more envy
assigned to those with more social renown. But on the other hand, the
support for the rich has not been in any proportion to their fame. That
is because the rich are often arrogant and on top of that many question
the mysterious ways the money was accumulated. When the rich run into
trouble, there were few tearful eyes for them.
Not a simple "anti-rich psychology"
In fact, kidnapping has become a big menace facing China's wealthy
people. According to He Ting, head of the investigation division of the
Ministry of Public Security, there were 3,863 kidnap cases in the country
in 2004. The targets of kidnappers were primarily wealthier
entrepreneurs, famous people as well as middle and primary school
students from well-to-do families.
According to case analyses from various kidnappings all over the country,
the police has found a series of characteristics: 1) the criminal's
target is clearly identified, primarily owners and senior managers of
private enterprises who can afford to pay ransom, 2) from the point of
view of the victim, they are largely children, siblings or other close
relatives of wealthy people, even the rich themselves; 3) the amount of
ransom is getting larger, the smallest being more than a dozen thousand
RMB and as high as one millioin RMB even running into millions.
Peking University sociology professor Xia Xueluan said that one should
apply unified analysis to the phenomena of the rich being kidnapped. From
a sociological point of view, it has much to do with Chinese society
changing. Xia said "some criminals are those so-called "extremely
exploited" who have lost land, jobs and take risks because they have
nothing to lose. These people are not necessarily haters of the rich.
Therefore, while society is strengthening education and restoring the
imbalance between rich and poor, the government should also lay down just
and fair societal distribution policies to address the question of
inequities and narrow the gap between the haves and the have-nots."
Looking for "kungfu masters"
China's insecure rich are now seeking strategies to enable themselves to
live in more secure environment through various means. Some are prepared
to move their assets abroad. Private entrepreneur Mr. Wang Fengfu
(pseudonym) kept a low profile but still chose a villa in the suburb as
his home.
In today's society where anti-rich sentiments are on the rise, Wang Feng
who handles his business in Guangzhou chose to hire bodyguards. "Many of
my friends hire personal bodyguards because society is no longer that
safe. Many hire more than one since their wives need protection, their
children need protection, even their parents need protection. One
bodyguard may cost several thousand RMB per month, but it is worth it."
In recent years, there has been more demand than supply for bodyguards in
coastal cities, leading to some employment agencies running around in
search of "kungfu masters" and retired military personnel.
According to industry insiders, in Guangdong, there is a large group of
private bodyguards shadowing their bosses as drivers and secretaries. In
Guangzhou alone, some estimates put the number of bodyguards as no less
than 5,000 (another estimate put it at around 1,000). Those employing
bodyguards are mostly famous persons in literary and artistic circles,
entrepreneurs and successful icons in various industries, with
concentration amongst bosses of foreign, solo and joint venture
enterprises. In places such as Shenzhen, it is an open secret that
service companies under different guises are training and supplying
bodyguards to the rich.
The Rich Migrating Overseas
Tsinghua University's sociologist Li Qiang noticed the insecurity
experienced by the rich. "They often have the inclination to migrate,
sending their family overseas, moving their assets outside of China.
Rationally, they should be the biggest supporters of the current system,
but the facts speak otherwise."
Private entrepreneur Wu Jinyong is doing what professor Li Qiang said the
rich would do. In 2003, he relocated his wife and small daughter to
Canada and through Hong Kong gradually moved his assets outside of China.
He told reporters that since he was making his money inside China, he
himself found it hard to migrate to overseas. But apart from the earlier
relatives who moved to Canada, his own two college-attending children
will also be sent abroad to continue their education. "Once they settle
down abroad, I can put down my business here for a while and accompany
them overseas. One cannot spend one's entire life chasing after money."
During interviews with reporters, many private entrepreneurs complained
that China has inadequate means to protect private property. But other
sociologists pointed out that many private entrepreneurs made their money
through "unclear" means, some property gained by robbing others.
Therefore, their cries for private property protection sometimes appear
absurd.
Money is not everything in life
Although the rich enjoy the advantages of "first to get wealthy", they
still face many terrifying aspects of reality. Therefore, the habits of
mad spending on luxury items by China's rich have increasingly attracted
the world's attention. Now many people are returning to a low-key life
style, which in fact has always been the tradition of the Chinese people.
"In the last few years, China's social mores have money and fame mutually
reinforce each other. Therefore, many entrepreneurs have been busy
promoting themselves, advertising their own companies. Now I feel we
cannot do that. We should operate in a more low-key fashion." One private
entrepreneur said that although his company needs fame to push
development, he still chose to be low key because he felt that "money is
not everything in life".
"Every stratum in society is reassessing its own security index." Peking
University's sociologist Xiong Ping believes that following medical,
housing and educational reforms, the insecurity sensed by the rich and
the ordinary people have increased markedly. "The insecurity of the rich
comes from non-consensual power and vast sums of "problematic" wealth.
The insecurity of the ordinary citizens comes from education and
existence." The clash of these two types of insecurity will trigger a
rise in crimes and danger."
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