Boiled corn, not shark fin on today's NPC menu
Beijing (AsiaNews) - As everybody waits for Xi Jinping's inaugural speech as China's new president, the anti-corruption and anti-luxury rhetoric campaign of the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, head of its 'fifth generation' of leaders, has infused the preparations underway for the upcoming session of the National People's Congress. This year, the members of China's parliament, which meets once a year to approve the decisions made during the rest of the year by the party's politburo, will not be served lobster or shark fin in a 5-star hotel even though some of them are among the richest men in the world.
"There's basically no more meat for breakfast now. We're eating at buffets as if we're travelling with an ordinary travel agency that has put us up in a hotel with no-star grading," said Han Deyun, a lawyer from Chongqing who has been a congress delegate for 11 years. "Lunch and dinners are also simpler, four or five hot dishes, but no seafood." In fact, Wednesday's lunch featured egg drop soup, boiled corn, stir-fried bok choy and sticky rice with pork.
Xi Jinping is behind the more mundane style. In November, when he replaced Hu Jintao as party leader, he warned the comrades that corruption and excesses would not be tolerated. His were not mere words.
Increasingly, ordinary Chinese are sick and tired of corrupt officials and politicians. More and more are openly criticising the disparities of the one-party state. Its leaders are now increasingly fearful that it might collapse as a result of popular resentment.
For various analysts, the incoming president will use this year NPC's session to test the ground to see if a major overhaul can be done to the system in order to redistribute better the country's wealth. Opening the domestic market as recently promised with the potential for higher average wages is one step in such a direction.
However, Xi's proposals to reduce social inequality might fail because some 90 NPC delegates have assets measured in billions of yuan and might have some objections to redistributive policies.
Indeed, these 90 members are on the list of the country's 1,000 richest people published by the Shanghai-based Hurun Report, up 20 per cent from 75 last year. Everyone on the Hurun list had a fortune of at least 1.8 billion yuan (US$ 289.4 million).
"The National People's Congress has a lot of rich businesspeople who have the knowledge and the means to make laws, and that's a privilege the rest of society doesn't have," said Yang Fengchun, an associate professor of government and management at Peking University. "The common people believe that they can't protect the rights of the weak."
The richest member of the NPC-and China's wealthiest person-is Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co. Chairman Zong Qinghou, 67, who has an estimated personal fortune of US$ 17.1 billion.
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08/03/2023 15:59
