Retail analyst A.T. Kearney has discovered that the wealthiest top two percent of China alone account for one third of global spending on luxury brands. No wonder Louis Vitton plans to open dozens of new stores across China in the coming years.
Where does this money come from? Last year The New York Times estimated that relatives of Chinese premier Wen Jiabao had accumulated $2.7 billion in assets — most in hidden accounts.
Will corruption at the top of the Chinese Communist Party be its undoing? Come hear the thoughts of one of the world’s top experts on Chinese politics:
“The End of the Party? Wealth, Corruption, and Resentment in Contemporary China”
A Talk by Joseph Fewsmith
Professor of International Relations, Boston University
Tuesday, November 19
5-6:30 pm
Mandel Center Reading Room (3rd floor)
Refreshments will be provided
Joseph Fewsmith is the author or editor of eight books, including, most recently, The Logic and Limits of Political Reform in China (January 2013). Other works include China since Tiananmen (2nd edition, 2008) and China Today, China Tomorrow (2010). Other books include Elite Politics in Contemporary China (2001), The Dilemmas of Reform in China: Political Conflict and Economic Debate (1994), and Party, State, and Local Elites in Republican China: Merchant Organizations and Politics in Shanghai, 1890-1930 (1985). He is one of the seven regular contributors to the China Leadership Monitor, a quarterly web publication analyzing current developments in China.