China: more light on the country’s convoluted corporate ownership structures

China’s Princelings Build the Wrong Kind of Capitalism

Over the last three decades, Communist China’s leaders have lifted more than 600 million of their citizens out of poverty -- and built one of the world’s most unequal societies.

Those two outcomes didn’t have to go hand in hand. They are the result of a conscious decision by the former paramount leader Deng Xiaoping and some of his closest associates -- the so-called Eight Immortals -- to safeguard the primacy of the Communist Party by putting their families in charge of opening up China’s economy.

As Bloomberg News documents, what resulted was an enormous concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few. Examining thousands of pages of documents and conducting dozens of interviews, Bloomberg traced the holdings of the Immortals’ 103 direct descendants and their spouses.

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Bloomberg's Full Special Report: Revolution to Riches

Bloomberg News series "Revolution to Riches" lifts the veil of secrecy on China's princelings, an elite class that has been able to amass wealth and influence because of their bloodline.

Read more: topics.bloomberg.com

Graphic: Mapping the Family Tree of China's Red Aristocracy

Immortal together

Like any aristocracy, the families of the Eight Immortals often intertwine. Connections found by Bloomberg News include business dealings, employers in common, ties to the same private or state-owned companies and diplomatic organizations, and even an intermarriage.

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