China's new wealthy focus on simple life
Half an hour into a flight aboard Zhang Yue's private jet from Beijing to his hometown in central Hunan province, the boss decides it is time for a nap.
Mr Zhang, the self-assured head of Broad Air Conditioning, has been animatedly discoursing on China's problems with poverty, but he is soon snoozing under a blue towelling blanket.
When it comes to enjoying life's ultimate luxuries, few of China's new generation of wealthy business people are as high-flying as Mr Zhang, who has made an estimated $229m selling industrial cooling systems for buildings.
But entrepreneurs who can afford such a lifestyle are finding that wealth can also be a liability: with China's leaders pledging to tackle the gaping divide between rich and poor, a high public profile can be a dangerous thing.
Two of the richest entrepreneurs in 2001, Yang Bin and Yang Rong, have since been disgraced for alleged financial crimes and seen their fortunes depleted. A third, Shanghai property developer Zhou Zhengyi, is in jail after a property scandal.
Not surprisingly, the younger breed of Chinese entrepreneurs is trying to build a more respectable profile that fuses a sound business track record with politically correct concern about social problems. The issue has become more sensitive as China's richest businessmen have become ever younger and richer.
In the four years since China first began publishing its own homegrown rich lists, the cut-off point for the wealthiest 100 entrepreneurs has gone from US$60m in 2001 to US$141m last year. Three of the six top-ranked entrepreneurs on last year's list were in their 30s.
They include Huang Guangyu, the 35-year-old electronics king with $1.5bn, and Chen Tianqiao, 32, co-founder of Shanda Inter-active Entertainment, the Nasdaq-listed online game company, with $1.3bn.
Mr Huang, the head of retail giant Gome, is perhaps a typical example. In an interview, the billionaire with a boyish face and a joker's grin relishes discussing how he made it big. He arrived in Beijing in the late 1980s as a wide-eyed teenager hoping to peddle inexpensive appliances to an emerging middle class.
He now runs one of the country's most popular household electronics chains and dabbles in real estate. “The process was not that complicated,” Mr Huang smiles.
But even as he recounts his triumphant rise, he is careful to emphasise his determination to pay his taxes and create more jobs. Such signals are funnelled down to his employees, too.
Gome's workers have three company rules listed prominently on the back of their business cards: no acceptance of gifts, no kickbacks and no special favours.
“I'm just a business person hoping for a stable environment and legal system,” says Mr Huang.
Mr Zhang is similarly image conscious. He is not shy about displays of wealth; one of the country's very few private jet owners, his Cessna Citation is adorned with the company name and rainbow stripes.
He also owns a scaled-down replica of an Egyptian pyramid, a helicopter, and a fleet of luxury cars including a yellow Ferrari, a cherry-coloured Hummer, and a stretch silver Mercedes.
But despite these extravagances, he professes to be a simple man who could have been a successful artist had he not gone into business. He says he likes to mingle with employees, joining them in the cafeteria and at karaoke.
Frequently, he talks about how Beijing could spend less time “chasing GDP”, or pursuing economic growth at all costs. He also likes to discuss his meetings with environmental officials and an education charity he runs.
“I've been thinking about these things more, lately, because I've had some time,” muses Mr Zhang, who says he was “more selfish before”.
Ding Lei, the 33-year-old head of internet portal NetEase.com, who is worth $668m, strikes a similar tone.
Mr Ding, whose company is listed on Nasdaq, said in February that he had not owned his own home until last year and had been living in unkempt apartments for years.
“The happiest things are still one's personal affairs,” Mr Ding reflected in a Chinese New Year special in Southern Weekend, a popular weekly paper.
Even as he alights from his private aircraft, Mr Zhang insists he prefers wearing the standard navy suit handed out by the company rather than expensive brands.
“People are simple,” he says, slumped in a sofa. “What you liked before, you will still like now.”
中国新贵爱上“简单生活”
张跃乘坐着他的私人喷气式飞机，从北京飞往他的家乡――湖南长沙市。半小时飞行后，远大空调的总裁考虑要小睡一会儿了。
自信的张先生一直在精力充沛地讲述中国的贫困问题，但盖着一条蓝色毛毯的他很快打起了磕睡。
在谈到享受生活的顶级奢侈品时，中国新一代富豪中很少有人像张先生这么张扬的。他的公司生产大楼用的工业冷却系统，销售额估计约为2.29亿美元。
但能够负担这种生活方式的创业家发现，财富也可能成为种累赘。由于中国领导人承诺将解决贫富间巨大差距，高调的公众形象可能是一件危险的事。
2001年，两位最富有的创业家杨斌和仰融由于涉嫌金融犯罪而名誉扫地，财产被没收。第三个例子是上海房产开发商周正毅因房产丑闻而锒铛入狱。
无外乎，目前中国年轻的创业家正努力树立更令人尊敬的公众形象，不仅拥有良好的经营业绩记录，而且对于社会问题，表现出符合政治导向的关心。随着中国富豪变得越来越年轻和富有，这个问题也变得越发敏感。
四年前，中国首度公布了自己的本地富豪镑。现在，前100名富豪的分界点已从2001年的6000万美元升至去年的1.41亿美元。去年，排名前6位的创业家中有3人是30多岁。
这3人中包括拥有15亿美元身家的35岁电器大亨黄光裕；在纳斯达克(Nasdaq)上市的网络游戏公司盛大交互娱乐的共同创始人陈天桥年仅32岁，拥有资产13亿美元。
作为零售业巨头国美电器的主席，黄光裕也许是最典型的例子。在一次采访中，这位长着一张娃娃脸、笑容有趣的亿万富翁对他的发家史津津乐道。80年代后期，当时还是天真少年的他来到北京，希望能向新兴的中产阶级兜售并不昂贵的电器。
现在，他经营着全国最受欢迎的家用电器连锁店，并开始涉足房地产业。“这个过程并不那么复杂，”黄先生微笑着说。
但是，即使当他详述起自己的成功之路时，他谨慎地强调自我纳税和创造更多就业机会的决心。这些讯号也传递给了他的员工。
在国美电器员工的名片背面，清晰地印有三条公司规定：不接受客户礼物，不收取回扣；不以权谋私。
“我只是一个商人，希望有一个稳定的环境和法律体系，”黄先生说。
张跃同样也很注重自己的形象。他并不羞于展示自己的财富。他是全中国唯一几个拥有私人喷气式飞机的人之一。他的赛斯纳奖状(Cessna Citation)喷气式飞机上印有公司名称和五彩缤纷的条纹。
他还拥有按比例缩小版埃及金字塔复制品、一架直升机和一支由黄色法拉利(Ferrari)、鲜红色悍马(Hummer)和银色梅赛德斯(Mercedes)7人座轿车组成的豪华车队。
然而，尽管拥有这些奢侈品，但他声称自己是个简单的人。如果他没经商，他可能已成为一名成功的艺术家。他说，他喜欢与员工打成一片，和他们一起去餐厅或卡拉OK。
他经常提到，中国政府应如何在“追求国内生产总值”上少花些时间，也不要不惜一切代价追求经济增长。他还喜欢谈论他与环保官员的会面，以及他管理的一个教育慈善团体。
“最近，我对这些事情的思考更多了，因为我有时间，”张先生若有所思地说。他说“过去他更多得想他自己”。
互联网门户网站网易(NetEase.com)的首席执行官、33岁的丁磊身价6.68亿美元，说话的语气也是一样。
今年2月，公司在纳斯达克上市的丁先生说，直到去年，他才买了自己的房子，过去几年一直住在乱糟糟的公寓里。
“最快乐的事情还是自己的私事，”丁先生在畅销周报《南方周末》的春节特刊中说。
尽管张先生走下他的私人飞机，但他坚持表示他更偏爱穿着公司发的标准海军制服，而不是昂贵的名牌。
“人都很简单，”他倒在沙发里说，“你过去喜欢什么，现在还喜欢什么。”
