05/09/2013, 00.00
CHINA
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China: Mao Zedong’s granddaughter stands out on Fortune 500 list

Kong Donmei is the daughter of Li Min, the only direct heir of the Great Helmsman still alive. Together with her husband Chen Dongsheng, she manages an insurance company that has earned her a personal fortune of about 5 billion Yuan. Both are on the 2013 New Fortune 500 Rich 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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