Daily Lessons from Life 10 September 2009

"Chinese woman spends S$836,000 on dog: report - Thu, Sep 10, 2009 AFP

BEIJING, China - A millionaire in northern China paid four million yuan (S$836,000) for a dog and ordered 30 luxury cars to come to the airport to greet her and the animal, local media reported.

The woman and her new pet - a black Tibetan Mastiff - flew into Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, a report on popular news portal sohu.com said.

A convoy of 30 black Mercedes-Benz cars, led by two sports utility vehicles, drove to the airport Wednesday to pick up the pair, who had arrived from the Tibetan-populated province of Qinghai in China's northwest.

Photos of the event posted with the report showed a committee of dog-lovers holding up a long red banner welcoming the mastiff to Xi'an.

The millionaire, who only gave her surname as Wang, said she and a friend had spent a long time searching for an original Tibetan mastiff.

"Gold has a price, but this Tibetan mastiff doesn't," the young woman said, according to the report.

China's economy has developed at a fast pace, creating with it an increasing number of millionaires.

Research by the Hurun Report, a magazine that tracks China's wealthiest, revealed in April that 825,000 people had personal wealth of over 10 million yuan (1.5 million dollars), or 0.06 percent of the population.

The vast majority of these millionaires have said the global financial crisis has not had any impact on their lifestyle, the research said."

A not improbable piece of news as I had heard or learned of the wealthy people paying big bucks for one of this Tibetan mastiff bred.

Lessons for me are:

1. 'It is good for some to get rich first and then the rest to get rich as well later.' is a famous quote from the great man and leader, Mr. Deng Xiao Ping. The challenge is when and how 'the rest' are going to catch up with the 'already rich'? Most of the 'already rich' are not exactly planning to share the secret and bring more people to that stage!;

2. when money is no object, how people spend it become meaningless. People become careless and mindless. It is just another expenditure. Don't try to compare human being to the Tibetan mastiff. While it is her money she is spending, should we be concerned about 'how she spent them'?;

3. this incident tells the world that: 'don't mess with us!', 'we are rich'. We can react and respond in whichever way we want. The fact remains, she is rich and she can afford to do whatever her want, as long as it is legal and within the ethical boundary!

May there be more envy than jealousy. Otherwise, the wide gap between the rich and the poor get another 'revolution in the making' sign!