First, Tao Shoulong burned his company's financial books. He then sold his private golf club memberships and disposed of his Mercedes S-600 sedan. And then he was gone. <...> In Zhejiang province, south of Shanghai, Ye counted at least six major bankruptcies, including Jianglong; Feiyue Group, China's biggest sewing machine maker; and Zhejiang Yixin Pharmaceutical Co., among the largest in that industry. "Of these six, one [owner] committed suicide, one was detained by police, and the remaining four all escaped," he said. "I can imagine that in the future, there would be more such cases as a result of the chain reaction."
And then he was gone. <...>
In Zhejiang province, south of Shanghai, Ye counted at least six major bankruptcies, including Jianglong; Feiyue Group, China's biggest sewing machine maker; and Zhejiang Yixin Pharmaceutical Co., among the largest in that industry.
"Of these six, one [owner] committed suicide, one was detained by police, and the remaining four all escaped," he said. "I can imagine that in the future, there would be more such cases as a result of the chain reaction."
Wow. A fellow student of mine at Zhejiang University Chinese School last year has several Chinese friends and contacts in the business world. And she once told me something that I found intriguing, but took with a lump of salt as typical exaggerations and overdramatizations of things heard through the ex-pat grapevine: she said that many wealthy Chinese entrepreneurs had obtained green cards and/or other kinds of long-term residence permits outside of China (mostly in the U.S. and Canada), probably through connections and bribes. Why? So that if and when the shit hit the fan, they could GTFO -- even if it meant permanent exile (presumably after stashing loads of cash in unreachable foreign bank accounts).
I'll be seeing her (hopefully) later this week and will follow up on that conversation in light of this article. Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.
