China: Mao Zedong’s granddaughter stands out on Fortune 500 list
Beijing (AsiaNews) - Despite the new Chinese leader Xi Jinping's moralizing campaigns, businessmen linked to the Communist Party are still firmly at the top of China's social pyramid. The "usual suspects" - tycoons more or less involved with politics - are joined this year by Mao Zedong's granddaughter, Kong Donmei (left in photo), who with her husband can count on a personal fortune estimated at 5 billion Yuan (about 620 million euro).
Kong is the daughter of Li Min, the only surviving child born from Great Helmsman's second marriage with ZiZhen. Since 1992 she has managed and is the largest shareholder Taikang Life Insurance together with her husband Chen Dongsheng. Chen, for his part, is the president of the company. According to some sources Kong - who earned a master's degree in Pennsylvania (United States) in 1999 - has "capitalized" on her grandfather's name: in addition to business she also launched a cultural club and a library with the aim of "protecting communist culture. "
The data relating
to their personal fortune were presented by New Fortune, which has also
included them on the 2013 list of the 500 richest men in the world (242th place).
This situation is in sharè contrasts with that of Mao's other grandson -
General Mao Xinyu - who told media, "Our family has a clear and honest
legacy. Nobody in the family of the great president works in the field of
business. We all live on modest wages. "
In any case, the story of Kong confirms that tycoons who have close relations
with the ruling communist party earn more. According to a survey conducted by
the China Data Center of Tsinghua University, graduates from "red" families
can earn from the beginning of their careers at least 15% more than the others.
The survey - which involved 6,059 graduates from 19 national universities -
shows how the children of Communist leaders are recruited mostly by financial
industries, government agencies or international organizations.
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22/12/2003
08/08/2019 10:59
