Capitalizing Communism

Growing up a kid in the 80's, the word 'communism' had extremely negative connotations. I wasn't quite sure why communists were bad, but they looked scary in Rocky movies, and Ronald Reagan sure didn't like them. I was convinced the reason red m&m's were no longer in production had more to do with their political party affiliation than an FDA food dye ban.

Flash forward twenty years. Both the Wall and communism fell in Eastern Europe, and the much feared 'Reds' have conveniently been replaced by Al Qaeida. But still, when I moved to China, I found it interesting to pull back the curtain and see how a real live communist country worked. Would everyone really wear gray mao suits and refer to each other as comrades? Would people laugh at silly tales of home ownership and mortgages? Would I be ridiculed coming from such a consumerist, capitalist culture and be routinely mocked because I had an MBA?

Well, I have to say, the political party has not lived up to the hype, at least in Shanghai. From what I've seen over the past 18 months, there's a whole lot of capitalism flying around everything from the real estate market to the stock market. Case in point, the 'Millionaire's Fair' that we recently attended. The event was held at the Shanghai Exhibition Center, a popular venue for communist party meetings. The weekend event was touted as offering a 'cornucopia of all the most beautiful and luxurious things the world has to offer....for the lover of the luxurious life'. We accepted free tickets from a client in order to attend and test the theory that if we were in a true communist country, the event would be empty. After all, there's no way the 1.3B Chinese citizens, allegedly living equal could declare 100% of the population 'millionaire status', considering the average Shanghainese salary is less than $500/mo.

Much to our surprise, there was a huge crowd clamouring at the gate to pay the $80 entrance fee.....

The opening night event, dubbed 'Nuit Blanche', was filled with 'living art' and an appearance by Super Girl, the Chinese Equivalent of American Idol.

And what do Millionaires in China crave? Hotdogs?!?!?

Like many of our China experiences, this night was strange and not quite what we expected, but, as usual, provided much entertainment. Who would have thought, not more than 50 years after such communistic initiatives as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, a Millionaire's Fair would take place in China? I find it hard not to believe that Mao's not turning over in his temperature controlled mausoleum up in Beijing.