There have been numerous media reports in which China’s newly rich either publicly show off their wealth or make reckless remarks that irritate the poor, leading to simmering resentment from the public.
Some media outlets have also played a dubious role. It is often the case that the media’s unprofessional garbling of the remarks by the rich misleads the public and makes people mad.
A more deep-rooted reason could be the popular belief held by some that rich people have accumulated their wealth through dirty deals with corrupt officials, jeopardizing the interest of the general public.
Although the central authorities are making more efforts to fight corruption, as a transitional economy China is yet to root out such business-related corruption. This also contributes to the dislike harbored by some people toward the wealthy.
Still, critics should distinguish those rich people who have suffered from tragedies, such as road accidents — although they have made no mistakes — from the high-profile and poorly behaved rich people as a whole.
Such unjustifiable criticism as that targeting Duan and Hu in the recent accidents is dangerous not only for the rich, but for the society as a whole. It is detrimental to fostering of a reasonable and constructive atmosphere for public discourse, which in return will affect the healthy development of society.
A society that restricts rational public discourse puts every one’s interest at risk, including that of the poor.
To bridge the social chasm, we should not pin our hopes solely on the hope that irresponsible netizens will become sensible. Instead, China must increase its pace in building a clean economy and a fair society.
China should be a country in which people can get rich through honest business and hard work and where the rich-poor wealth gap is gradually narrowed to reduce public resentment.
Currently, China’s official Gini Co-efficient, which is widely used to gauge the seriousness of wealth gap in a country, is as high as 0.47, already exceeding the warning line of 0.4.
Only when China can make substantial progress in this area will we hear the emotional and unfounded cries against the rich become a whisper.
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