Uproar Over China's Clubs for the Rich

Jakarta Globe, Grace Ng – Straits Times Indonesia, May 21, 2011

Favorite haunts of the rich include the Jianfu Palace in the
Forbidden City (above), the Chang'an Club along Beijing's transport
artery, and the Longfor Summer Palace Splendor villas near the
famous retreat where Qing Dynasty empress Cixi spent her
summers. (China Press Photo/Courtesy of ST)

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Beijing. Revelations that the Forbidden City hosts an exclusive club for the super-rich have sparked an uproar, highlighting the envy that ordinary people feel towards China's burgeoning billionaire population.

It is the latest in a string of heritage areas and public sites that have become playgrounds for the wealthy. Across the country, “rich clubs” — complete with trappings such as imperial banquets and cigar lounges — are multiplying.

They have become popular status symbols of the elite class in the world's second-largest economy, even as the growing poor-rich gap stokes social tensions.

Luxury playgrounds include the famous Chang'an Club along Beijing's main transport artery; the Noble Club at the Temple of Earth, where emperors used to worship; and the Longfor Summer Palace Splendour villas near a famous summer retreat where Qing Dynasty empress Cixi spent her summers.

These have long been the places for the rich to wheel, deal and entertain political elite and foreign big shots, and charge annual memberships of as much as 500,000 yuan ($77,000) per person.

But now it has emerged that the most exclusive club of them all - charging one million yuan per person for entry - is to be found in the heart of the capital city, nestled in the west side of the former palace of emperors, where commoners were not allowed to venture until 1925.

The recently restored Jianfu Palace is still not open to the public. Instead, it has been exposed as a playground for 500 of the world's richest people.

Pictures posted by an anonymous netizen show a table set with exquisite glassware and guards dressed in imperial-era uniforms believed to be stationed outside the palace, where Qing emperor Qianlong stored many of his treasures.

News of this club's existence was released by Rui Chenggang, a well-known presenter with state-owned broadcaster CCTV, on his microblog.

“A foreign tour guide proudly told me that he just arranged a family dinner party for an American billionaire,' he wrote, pointing out that the palace is a national treasure belonging to the Chinese people.

The Forbidden City authorities initially denied the charges, insisting “the alleged lucrative club is pure nonsense.” But two days later, they were forced to retract the denial, after Beijing media published further claims from a source that said he had attended an opening ceremony for the club organized by the Palace Museum's commercial subsidiary.

The authorities later reportedly fired almost all the staff and confiscated the cellphones of security guards. On Monday, they said the subsidiary had offered the memberships “wrongly and without consultation” with the top management. These memberships would be terminated following a review and the subordinates who hatched the scheme would be fired.

But the moves have not appeased the outraged public, who are railing against the greed and incompetence of the Forbidden City's management — already under fire after a thief walked off with seven valuable curios from the compound.

Rui has led the torrent of criticism against the management for profiting from the private use of Jianfu Palace, which was burned down in 1923 and refurbished six years ago after a huge donation from Hong Kong businessman Ronnie Chan.

“The total of 500 million yuan in entry fees alone is five times as much as the restoration cost of Jianfu Palace,” he noted.

Following the scandal, Chinese media reported this week that a historic villa in Nanjing has also been used to host private functions for the wealthy.

A residence that belonged to former Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek and his wife has been secretly used to hold wedding ceremonies and banquets for more than seven years. The villa, named a national cultural heritage conservation unit 10 years ago, was opened to the public in 1984 and charges 15 yuan per entry.

Such reports have further stoked public resentment, with one netizen writing on popular forum Sina.com: “So this is how the rich become so much richer while the poor starve. How dare they use national treasures for their own profit?”

The growing fury over the rich-poor gap highlighted by the Forbidden City incident may prompt the authorities to rein in some of these luxury clubs, some say.

They point to some extreme examples, such as the abrupt closure last year of the luxuriously decadent Passion Club and No. 8 Mansion, known to be run by some of China's most powerful families. This prompted speculation that the well-connected owners had fallen out of favor, and were used as proof to the skeptical Chinese public that the central government was really taking a harder line on vice and corruption.

Other elite clubs will probably be encouraged to “be more discreet and not flaunt wealth,” noted Chinese social affairs analyst Ron Wang.

“Many ordinary people already believe that the rich get their wealth by unfair means, and when they gather at these clubs, they can gamble with impunity,” he said. “So these rich clubs will fuel even more tensions if they are too openly extravagant.”

Reprinted courtesy of Straits Times Indonesia. To subscribe to Straits Times Indonesia and/or the Jakarta Globe call 021 2553 5055