Jeremy Wallace

Journalists: combining multiple threads of my interest is a nearly fool-proof way to make it onto this blog. Nearly is a necessary qualifier as you never know when I might be traveling for research or having family members join me for some fun. As Matthew left for the States a few days ago, I have no excuse to not write about the article with the following exciting title:

Former peasant joins ranks of China’s richest

Inequality, growth, China’s bubbling real estate and stock markets… it’s all there. I have very little to comment other than to suggest that there seems to be an immense amount of excess housing in Beijing despite continued frenzied construction and that people are buying stocks based on how lucky their names sound. Granted, Country Garden (the English name of the company) is listed in Hong Kong which has a much better reputation than do Shanghai and Shenzhen. Nonetheless, I wonder if the construction and housing boom – and thus the profits of Country Garden – is nothing more than a house of cards.