More than 70 children of Chinese billionaires attended behavioural training classes after President Xi Jinping called for a 'positive image' of the young rich, as many of them came under flack for vulgar display of their wealth and luxurious lifestyles.
With an average age of 27, the so-called fuerdai or second generation of the nouveau riche, were taught traditional Chinese culture, social responsibility and business knowledge at a training school in east China's Fujian Province, state-run Beijing Youth Daily reported today.
The children of emerging rich class riding on the crest of the economic reforms of the Communist country have landed in numerous scandals in the social media in recent times displaying their wealth and fame.
While two rich youth riding costly sports cars survived a "fast and furious" crash in Beijing, another displayed the new expensive Apple watches strapped to the legs of his dog on the social media with a provocative question "do you have them".
The rich kids routinely display their sports cars, private jets, luxury goods and lavish homes all with captions revealing the kids' nonchalant attitude to money in their social media pages.
According to a latest survey, China's milliners club has crossed a million with about a dozen billionaires.
The behavioural training for the rich children was started after Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a more positive image of the young rich, the report said.
At a working conference of the United Front Work Department (UFWD) of the ruling Communist Party last month, Xi called for more efforts to "guide the younger generation of private enterprise owners to think where their money comes from and live a positive life".
The offspring of the nouveau riche are often labelled spoilt, arrogant and sell-willed with many of them splashing money without knowing how their parents earned the wealth, an article published by the UFWD, which manages relations between the Communist Party of China and non-Party elites, said.
