Liu Yongxing

Quail breeder Liu Yongxing is being hailed as China’s working class fairytale and the country’s richest man. As reported by MSNBC, Liu and his three brothers founded a quail-breeding farm around 1980 with $125 in the impoverished village of Gujia and are now worth a combined estimate of more than US$5.2 billion. While mainstream media clings to this heartfelt rags to riches story, the first thought that came to my mind was, “I wonder when the Forbes curse will trash his nest.”

Liu Xiaoqing

As Chinese novelist Wang Gang pointed out in an interview with Gady Epstein, if you’re Chinese and “you get onto the Forbes list you’ll be dead meat in no time.” He has a point. Rich people in China who happen to find themselves in the public spotlight are also known to end up in jail. Just look at sports beverage executive Zhang Hai, real estate tycoon Zhou Zhengyi, orchid king Yang Bin, actress Liu Xiaoqing, and entrepreneur Tang Wanxin. They’ve all basked in the glory of Forbes fame, and they’re all perched behind bars today.

In the incredibly insightful book China Entrepreneur, importer-exporter Oto Petroski states that “from the moment private people become richer than the national banks, then the central government cannot tell these people what to do. In the last few years, some very rich people have emerged but the Chinese government can still find something in their background to expose them, and then remove them from the page.” As the Chinese Communist Party’s 60th anniversary approaches on October 1st, China’s well-heeled may want to consider keeping a low profile until nationalist fervor dies down.

Tang Wanxin

As for Liu Yongxing, while many will find the tale of his rise to the top inspiring, others are surely asking the question, “how’d he do it?” for very different reasons. If you study the economics of happiness, you will find that people generally do best when they share the same income bracket with their neighbors. Once circumstances shift and your neighbor demolishes his hut to make room for a mansion, the green-eyed monster tends to rear its ugly head. Given this lesson, Mr. Liu may want to consider building a very high wall around his nest before he lays anymore golden eggs. Oh and, maybe Forbes will be kind enough to overlook him next year.