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President Xi Jinping has attempted to crack down on ostentatious bragging by young ‘fuerdai’, which translates as ‘rich second generation’, with measures such as introducing a ban on wealthy kids appearing on reality TV shows earlier this month.
But, his efforts may be going to waste if the continued flaunting of wealth on social media is anything to go by.
A.l.a.l also enjoys a spot of shopping and beomaned the fact she’d not brought a car with a bigger boot to hold all her bags after a spree at designer boutiques, including Dior and Valentino.
Xiaooyii took things a step even further, showing off a collection of 17 Hermes bags ranging from totes to clutches to her 13,500 followers.
She also has a fondness for Louis Vuitton monogrammed luggage.
However, such flaunting of wealth is unlikely to go down well with the average person in China.
Their excess-related behaviour has been frowned upon since 2012 when Ling Gu, son of high-ranking government official Ling Jihua, crashed his Ferrari 458 Spider in Beijing.
Ling Gu, aged 23, was killed in the crash and three female passengers, two of whom were found naked with the other in a partial state of undress, were seriously injured.
Mentions of the crash were censored on Chinese social media as the government was accused of trying to cover up the incident, fuelling the public’s hatred of this protected generation.
This year another Beijing supercar smash-up helped ignite a further backlash.
On April 11 a 21 year-old man surnamed Tang driving a Lamborghini and a 20-year-old man surnamed Yu driving a Ferrari wrote off their cars in a tunnel.
Few details about the drivers were released but police said they were jobless, leading to netizens speculating that the incident was yet another example of fuerdais out of control.
After a massive public backlash against the fuerdai, President Xi demanded that they be taught the value of money – so 70 of the billionaires’ children were sent to a ‘social responsibility’ retreat where the fine for turning up late was £103.
Additionally, he told the United Front Work Department, which is in charge of managing the relations of China’s non-political elite, to ‘guide private-sector businessmen, especially the younger generation, to help them think about the source of their wealth and how to behave after becoming affluent.’
The department said: ‘Some rich young people know only that they are rich, but have no idea where the money comes from. They know only how to show off their wealth, but don’t know how to create wealth’.