China has a high number of billionaires, second only to the United States, and an enterprising company has set up a course to help the country’s rich kids learn responsibility. The school’s curriculum is a “mini MBA” at China Britain Financial Education, and the students have been taught fiscal discipline and philanthropy. The children were sent to the school after raising a total of $25,000 to raise the money.
The fuerdai have become a major problem, which is why Xi’s administration has taken steps to reign in the fuerdai, or the kids of billionaires. The government ordered over 70 kids of billionaires to enroll in classes designed to promote social responsibility and patriotism. One of the kids, Tian Liang, is a former Olympic diver and appeared on the reality show Dad! Where Are We Going? with his 5-year-old daughter.
China’s rich kids have no time to learn responsibility. Instead, they learn to become better people through their education. This is where Fuerdai children can begin to learn responsibility. This is because the Chinese government has rewarded high-achieving students by giving them a chance to attend top universities. However, if the rich kids don’t want to pay for a better education, they can send their children abroad for private education.
The new class of rich kids in China, the Fuerdai, have no reason to be ashamed of their wealth and success. They are the Chinese equivalent of the ‘Super Rich Kids’ in Frank Ocean’s ‘Super Rich Kids’, but their wealth needs to be understood in the context of China’s complex social history.
In addition to their educational success, the Chinese Communist Party is worried about their growing income gap. In 2014, the top 20% of wealthy Chinese citizens had ten times more disposable income than the bottom 20% of Chinese citizens. As a result, the public’s concern over inequality has led to structural problems in China. The public’s worries about inequality have led some young people to adopt passive forms of resistance, such as a “lying flat” philosophy.
In China, nine million children take the gaokao exam, which determines their college attendance and social status. As a result, the state system is geared towards the high-pressure end of the high-school exam. This results in “hot-housing” from an early age. The process continues through middle and high schools, where top-performing students are allocated the best teachers.
The Xi administration is trying to curb the fuerdai, but other members of the gilded class are complaining. A recent study revealed that more than 70 billionaire kids were ordered to attend the classes, in order to learn a sense of responsibility and patriotism. The class was led by Tian Liang, an Olympic diver and father of a 5-year-old daughter.
The Fuerdai is a new class in China, literally translating to ‘rich second generation’. They are mocked by the media in China and are often sent abroad to receive private education. Unlike Frank Ocean’s ‘Super Rich Kids,’ the Fuerdai are not the Asian-equivalent of the ‘Super Rich Kids’ song. They must be understood in their historical and contemporary context.
While the Chinese Communist Party has cause for concern, they have done their part in addressing this problem by forcing the rich-kids-of-the-class to take responsibility for their actions. The Chinese government has ordered more than 70 of the children of the richest Chinese billionaires to take classes for public education in order to promote a sense of patriotism. This class also required the wealthy to enroll their children in better kindergartens.
The school system neglects the development of social responsibility, values, and personality in wealthy Chinese children. According to the Beijing Youth Daily, the Lin family spent 180,000 yuan per year on Angelina’s tuition, and the average cost of private schools in Beijing was double that. In contrast, the state school in Beijing charged around 1,500 yuan per year.