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text/ huang yuntao

01

i was reading an ancient book on a clear autumn day and came across two jokes about rich people.

the first story. a scholar went to the capital and moored his boat on the yangtze river. at night, he called the boatman, "moor somewhere else, there are thieves here." the boatman asked, "how do you see thieves?" the scholar said, "isn't it written on the stele that it is a thief in the middle of the river?" the boatman laughed and said, "could it be a poem about the middle of the river? how could you have misunderstood it?" the scholar said, "it's a poem, it looks like a thief."

he is rich, but he also has a bit of a thief-like look.

another story. confucius went hunting in the west and caught a unicorn. he could not see it and cried day and night at home. his disciples were afraid that he would cry too much, so they found a bull and hung copper coins all over its body to appease it. confucius saw through it as soon as he saw it and said, "this is obviously a rich bull, how can it be a unicorn!"

no matter how rich you are, you can never become a auspicious unicorn.

02

american sociologist rachel sherman once conducted in-depth interviews with the top 1% of new york's richest people. she found that these "vested interests" are keen on establishing themselves as "ordinary people": they work diligently and conscientiously, consume rationally and restrainedly, actively give back to society, attach importance to the cultivation of offspring, and like to flaunt their lack of interest in money.

the wealthy all want to establish a persona for themselves, but sooner or later, these personas will be poked like a hornet's nest and turned into a sieve, and the later they are punctured, the greater the damage.

those who work diligently and conscientiously may actually be secretly scheming for power; those who consume rationally and restrained may suddenly be living a life of luxury on luxury yachts and private jets; those who actively give back to society may be laundering money through charity and public welfare; those who value the cultivation of offspring may be unable to tame their unfilial descendants who only know how to show off their wealth; those who claim to be not interested in money frequently cash out at key points in the stock price.

once the trust in idols is broken, the entire idol group will be harmed.

not long ago, xu zheng's fourth self-directed and self-acted film "reverse life" was released. it tells the story of a middle-aged man who once had a glamorous career and became a food deliveryman, and continued to work hard in the dramatic changes of life. the most liked comment on the social media platform is: "poor people spend money to go to the cinema to watch rich people play themselves." this comment confuses the fictional movie character (food deliveryman gao zhilei) with the real social role (actor xu zheng), and uses this contrast to ridicule the rich and then poke the poor.

i don’t really like the anti-common sense and confrontational tone in this review. in more than 99% of commercial films, the protagonists are played by professional actors and celebrities. if all the characters played themselves, we would only be able to watch documentaries or simply not make movies. but this emotional short review still resonated with many people, and the box office of "reverse life" ended in a dismal failure.

the first three films directed and acted by xu zheng were also about a rich man playing a poor man. xu zheng is still the same xu zheng, but the environment has changed, and the common denominator of public sentiment has also changed.

03

a few decades ago, the wealthy were widely admired.

in the late 1970s, under the contract responsibility system, some farmers who were skilled in technology and good at business worked hard in rural areas and became the top rich. in towns, a group of urban residents who "went into business" became self-employed, opened companies, and became private business owners with bulging pockets. most importantly, with the enlightened blessing of market economy policies, people no longer worry about being "cut off the tail of capitalism."

in that era, families with savings or income of more than 10,000 yuan were called "ten thousand yuan households". at that time, most people's monthly salary was only a few dozen yuan. ten thousand yuan households were a financial reward for hard work and wisdom, and also a symbol of wealth in that era.

at the turn of the century, a wave of it pioneers started out in the early days of china's information industry, trying to create china's own yahoo, google and amazon. they were also highly sought after and even hailed as the new generation of "knowledge heroes".

these two groups of people, like all the outstanding wealth creators of all times: they are smart, resourceful, and daring to be the first. the atmosphere of their stories is generally that hard work can make you rich, hard work will bring you rewards, and knowledge can change your destiny.

projected into the public's mind, the path to wealth is relatively transparent, and "you can copy my success."

admiration for wealthy people is not unique to china, but is found all over the world.

sam walton, the founder of walmart, entered the retail industry in 1945 from a "50-cent store" and became the richest man in the united states in 1985. in the 1990s, he received the presidential medal of freedom from the white house, the highest honor given to civilians in the united states. then-president bush and his wife went to the auditorium of walmart headquarters to present the award to sam. many years later, buffett and steve jobs were also awarded this honor.

the chinese version of sam walton's biography is called "made in america", which sounds very high-profile and proud of being rich. the original english title of this biography is actually sam walton: made in america. compared with the flamboyant chinese version, it is much more plain and low-key.

04

compared to decades ago, it seems that the entire class of wealthy people is now under suspicion. what is going on?

people have not become more hostile to the rich, but they hate deception and injustice more. in the minds of the public, the path to wealth is becoming less transparent, and "you can never replicate my success."

fan bingbing, zheng shuang, and wei ya have been fined hundreds of millions or even billions of yuan by tax authorities for tax evasion. some of the super-rich in the united states, including bezos and musk, have also caused controversy over tax issues.

compared to stealing, some methods are more covert and clever. some hong kong tycoons only receive very low wages from listed companies, such as an annual salary of 10,000 hong kong dollars. but what is easily overlooked is that wages in hong kong will be taxed, but dividends will not, because listed companies have already paid profits tax before dividends are distributed. low wages + huge dividends have become a common tax avoidance method for the rich.

reasonable tax avoidance is very smart. although it is not fair enough, it is not illegal or against regulations. tax evasion is just stealing. this is what the scholar said, rich is rich, but a bit like a thief.

in the recent "fake hong kong mooncake" incident, xiao yangge and zeng zhiwei's reputation was shattered due to suspected misleading consumers during live broadcasts, and the three sheep company was also investigated by the local market supervision and management bureau. this may be another case that reinforces the stereotype of "the rich are unkind".

americans are also wondering: is the u.s. economic system fair to the majority of americans? is it unfairly supporting the interests of the powerful?

according to a report in fortune magazine in january 2020, a pew research center sample survey showed that about 63% of american adults believed it was unfair.

the doubts and concerns hidden in the survey results are: what is the underlying logic and code of wealth circulation? why do some people seem to have made no extraordinary efforts and efforts, but are far ahead in the acquisition of wealth, while others who work just as hard or even twice as hard can only fall behind? apart from the metaphysics of "one fate, two luck, and three feng shui", is there any convincing scientific explanation for the birth and surge of personal wealth?

the more i think about it, the more confused i become. the more confused i become, the more confused i become. the more confused i become, the less i like rich people.