China’s trillion-dollar problem

I recently retired as UK senior partner of BDO after 23 years as a partner with the firm. Last year, I took up a position as visiting professor at Xiamen University, China. My wife is Chinese and I decided to spend three months exploring business opportunities in the region and trying to learn some Mandarin.

I’m blogging about my experiences in China for Real Business ? catch up on my journey so far.

A new Credit Suisse report suggests that more than a million new US$ millionaires were created in China last year, and that personal wealth there now stand at US$20trn ? third highest in the world, behind USA and Japan ? and expected to double again over the next five years. 

However, the gap between rich and poor in China, which is already at a level perceived to be dangerously high, is predicted to keep increasing. 

This is a priority area for the Chinese government, which will be trying to redistribute wealth to reduce the risk of social unrest.

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