Mao’s Grand Daughter’s Great Leap to Wealth

Mao Zedong’s grand daughter Kong Dongmei has acquired massive wealth in part by selling Grand Dad’s communism

From the Telegraph:

The granddaughter of Mao Zedong has been ranked on a list of China’s richest people, with a personal wealth of £525million.

Kong Dongmei, 41, has been accused of hypocrisy after placing 242nd on the list alongside her husband - quite a feat in a country with a population of nearly 1.4billion.

Ms Kong, the daughter of Li Min, Mao's only surviving child with his third wife He Zizhen, is believed to have made part of her fortune from selling publications about her famous grandfather.

Ms Kong married insurance company boss Chen Dongsheng, in 2011 after a 15-year extramarital affair, according to Chinese financial magazine New Fortune which published the rich list.

After obtaining a masters degree at U.S. University of Pennsylvania, Kong returned to China and opened up her own bookstore in Beijing in 2001, set up to promote ‘New Red Culture’.

Wealth, and perhaps political clout, also translates to special privileges. From the same article:

Kong and her husband is also said to have three children, a son and two daughters, a violation of China’s one-child policy.

Kong's inclusion on the rich list triggered hot debate on Weibo - China's version of Twitter, with some accusing her of betraying her grandfather's status as the ‘great teacher of proletariat revolution’.

‘The offspring of Chairman Mao, who led us to eradicate private ownership, married a capitalist and violated the family planning policy to give birth to three illegal children,’ wrote Luo Chongmin, a government adviser in southwest China.

China has implemented the one-child policy for many urban residents for over 30 years, although there have been recent suggestions that the rules may be loosened.

‘Did Kong Dongmei ... pay any fines after being a mistress for more than 10 years and giving birth to three kids?’ asked another user with the online handle Virtual Liangshao.

But others argued that the millions were actually her husband's, who made his fortune before they were married.

Well Mao's Grand daughter's "great leap forward' to wealth epitomizes the universal essence of politics: "do what I say, but not as I do". Smoke and mirrors.