The Rich, The Wasteful and the Distasteful
There's living comfortably, living luxuriously, and then there's decadence. Which is the only word that can describe what's going on with kids belonging to the upper echelons of society in China.
However, there's also a whole "class" of people who fancy themselves as the rich, act like prudes and have some what skewed notions of value. These people desperately try to portray themselves living an opulent lifestyle, as if they come from a wealthy family or privileged background. This of course is a front, one used to try attract a partner coming from ACTUAL wealth. But as they say: "You can gift wrap a package of shit, but it's still shit".
It surely brings new meaning to the phrase "Fake it till you make it".
Take this online bout between a self labelled internet celebrity, and an actual second generation rich kid for example.
Internet Celebrity Girl (网红)
I spent 1 Million RMB on plastic surgery
Daily maintenance : 20,000 RMB
Handbag : 30,000 RMB
Shoes and Clothes : 30,000 RMB
Bracelets, Watches and other Accessories :
100,000+ RMB
A girl with moderately good standard of living will be worth around 2 Million RMB when going out (Plastic Surgery, Clothes, Shoes, Bags and Accessories) and you come pick me up in a Mazda for dinner?
Are you kidding me?
--Thoughts from a self labelled Internet Celebrity Girl
Real Words from an actual Second Generation Rich Kid
I spent 5 Million RMB on a super car
Usually spend about 1 Million RMB a year in nightclubs
Clothes and Shoes minus Watches and Accessories : 2 Million RMB
A moderately rich second generation rich kid will be worth about 10 Million RMB going out.
You f*ckin' spend 1 Million RMB on plastic surgery and expect to get in MY car?
Are you kidding me?
-- Actual Second-Generation rich kid
Miss Opinionated's Opinion
Much of the wealth these kids now frivolously enjoy and throw away on lavish flamboyant lifestyles are a result of a whole generation of Chinese people who worked extremely hard to create this wealth. Contrary to popular belief, the parents of these rich kids do not behave like them. In-fact, owing to their humble roots, they do not spend their money on unnecessary extravagances but at the same time, want to give their children a better life than they themselves had.
What happens when the kids no longer feel motivated to create their own wealth because their parents have provided everything?
In Chinese we have a saying which is 富不过三代 meaning "Rich for no more than three generations".
The first generation creates the wealth, and the subsequent generations only know how to spend.
In the case of our two internet friends, clearly it's a matter of which is the lesser of two evils. Both spend ludicrous amounts of money on luxury. Fair if they made the money themselves. But sadly, not the case for either. The girls are mostly gold diggers looking for a rich guy to support their ritzy lifestyle, and the guys only know how to spend their parents money on being Casanova's picking up these "easy" to please girls.
How do we solve a growing wealth disparity, and improve quality of life when the rich quibble over such stupid matters?
现在的年轻人分2种，一种喜欢假装富有，一种是真正富有，前一部分喜欢假装富有去吸引真正富有的人。就像下面这两个年轻人的对话。但是钱不是长在树上的，现在的小朋友化的钱都是上一代长辈辛苦赚来的钱，很多人误解上一代的人影响了小朋友铺张花钱，教他们的孩子怎么花大钱，其实他们只是想要他们的孩子过比他们更好的生活，不希望他们的孩子和他们一样辛苦的过日子。但是这些孩子只懂得怎么花钱，而不会赚钱，应验了那句古话：富不过三代。当我们每天都在纠结这些问题的时候，我们又怎么可以去改善国家的贫富差距和提升每个人的生活品质呢？