1980: Young ladies wearing then fashionable sunglasses. by Wang Wenlan

1978: A newlywed couple in Suzhou. by Saito Koichi

November 1980: People crowd into Tian’anmen Square to celebrate the China Women Volleyball Team’s victory at the World Cup. CFP

1986: Several fashionably-dressed young people draw the attention of seniors in Beijing’s Longtanhu Park. by Wang Wenlan

April 1983: A young man poses with a mock-up car in Riverside Park, Pingdingshan City, Henan Province. CFP

1982: A clothes stall in Guangzhou, in the days when self-employment was rare. by An Ge

1982: In the Guangzhou Railway Station, two passengers carry goods purchased in the city, then referred to by people from other parts of the country as a “paradise for shoppers.” by An Ge

April 1999: A lucky winner carries cash he won in a lottery in Xi’an, the capital city of Shaanxi Province. by Liu Dewang

1980s: No Shame in Wealth

May 1992: A farmer entrepreneur from Shunde City, Guangdong Province, uses a cell phone. At that time mobile phones symbolized social status. by Jiang Duo

August 10, 1992: Hundreds of thousands of investors from around China flooded into Shenzhen to acquire stock subscription forms. A young man from Jiangxi Province was not happy when he was squeezed out of the queue of stock buyers after waiting for 48 hours.

1992: A portrait of Deng Xiaoping in downtown Shenzhen. by An Ge

May 2000: A young couple poses for wedding photos at the Lujiazui Financial and Trade Zone in Pudong, Shanghai. by Xu Xun

April 1983: A young man poses with a mock-up car in Riverside Park, Pingdingshan City, Henan Province. CFP

2005: Fans of pop singer Li Yuchun. Reuters

2007: An investor watches the stock indicator with a telescope. Reuters

2006: A China-made sport car is the center of attention at the Beijing International Auto Show. Reuters

Despite the fact that Confucius stated, “Humans were born to pursue wealth and honor,” his followers advocated equalitarianism in the distribution of wealth and spurned mercenary behavior in past millenniums. Throughout the history of feudal China, rulers followed a policy of emphasizing agriculture while disdaining commerce. However, the loss of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in the opium wars brought those rulers to rethink the correctness of the policy. In the following century, China struggled to find a road to revival. Then, in 1978, a historic reform took place throughout the nation.

That year the Third Plenary Meeting of the 11th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) reached a consensus to focus on the ambitious target of socialist modernization. At the Central Economic Work Conference, Deng Xiaoping, the chief architect of China’s reform and opening-up, stated that China should encourage “a certain proportion of regions and people to get rich first” to eventually realize “common prosperity.”

The term “getting rich” once again became a hot topic in the public arena. However, “private wealth” once was considered a forbidden zone in the era of “socialist transformation” that aimed to eliminate individual economy. At that time, if one carried more than three chickens or ducks from one village to another, the fowl may have been confiscated as the “remains of capitalism.” The absolute equalitarianism, however, brought a nation of shared poverty, with people even wearing clothes of a similar style.

The economic reform originated in rural areas. Three decades ago, 18 farmers in Xiaogang Village, in eastern China’s Anhui Province, signed a secret agreement to divide communally-owned farmland into individual parcels, thus inadvertently lighting the torch of China's rural reforms. The bold action created what was later referred to as the Household Contract Responsibility System, which injected vigor into the rural economy.

Soon the tide of economic reform swept across the cities. A worker at a textile plant in Yichang, Hubei Province, Xie Mingwan earned 18 yuan per month, a humble income, insufficient to support his family of six. In 1979, he quit his job and started a business transporting tortoises from rural Hubei to Guangzhou. He earned 2,000 yuan in his first attempt. With the proceeds he purchased goods in Guangzhou and resold those in his hometown. In this way, Xie became the first self-employed individual in Yichang with private wealth exceeding 10,000 yuan. Later, thousands like Xie emerged. At that time, however, these newly-monied individuals did not win social respect equal to their economic status. In Guangzhou, self-employed individuals were scornfully called “street peddlers.”

Fortunately, the government took action to encourage a diversified economy, such as setting up five special economic zones, including Shenzhen. In the mid-1980s, an increasing number of private companies emerged, thus the year 1984 was popularly called “the beginning year of Chinese companies.”

After one decade of development, the economic reform led Chinese people from poverty to prosperity.

1990s: Further Development

On August 10, 1992, Shenzhen began to distribute subscription forms for an upcoming IPO, attracting 1.5 million people to the stock market. Despite the scorching sun, they lined up in front of banking offices in hopes of acquiring a subscription form. With the establishment of the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges, the stock market became a new field in which the Chinese people could generate revenue.

“Practice of a planned economy is not equivalent to socialism, while practice of a market economy is not equivalent to capitalism,” Deng Xiaoping declared during his inspection tour of southern China. This then bold declaration set up a goal of developing a socialist market economy and started the fast-growing era of China.

Later, the State Council took a series of measures towards further reforms concerning taxation, financial systems, foreign trade, medical care and housing, so as to meet the demands of a market economy.

Along with the rapid urbanization of China, more and more skyscrapers were erected, and electrical appliances like refrigerators and color TV sets became popular in ordinary households. In addition, the nation’s continuous opening-up provided diversified options.

The economic reform also offered opportunities to surplus rural labor. A tremendous number of migrant laborers began to flood into the cities. Meanwhile, township enterprises began to flourish.

At that time many people resigned from governmental and public entities to start their own business. Many became eminent entrepreneurs.

Chen Dongsheng resigned from the Development Research Center of the State Council and established the China Guardian Auction Co., Ltd., and then the Taikang Life Insurance Co., Ltd. A former employee of the Inner Mongolia Policy Research Office, Guo Fansheng established the Huicong Consulting Co., Ltd., which later developed into China’s first listed B2B service provider. Feng Lun resigned from the State System Reform Commission and organized the Hainan Wantong Company, together with Pan Shiyi, Yi Xiaodi, Wang Gongquan, Wang Qifu and Liu Jun, all of whom later became influential figures in China’s real estate industry. And Ren Zhengfei, the founder of Huawei Group, saw his company earn 100 million yuan selling independently-developed large switches. These entrepreneurs became popular and revered personages of industry.

Yang Huaiding, nicknamed Million-aire Yang, is another example of wealth making. He once worked with a state-owned company. In April 1988, a report covering Shanghai’s initiation of transactions of government bonds, published on the newspaper News Journal, drew his attention. He then found that the prices of government bonds varied in different cities. Through the transaction of government bonds, Yang earned his first pot of gold. Later, he became one of Shanghai’s earliest securities investors. The first stock he purchased surged by eight times, and earned him over 1.5 million yuan. At that time, the per capita monthly salary in Shanghai was about 100 yuan. The capital market expanded the ways of making money.

Throughout the 1990s, “development” became the main tone of all sectors, and China had entered the primary stage of a socialist market economy.

At the end of the 1990s, the Chinese people realized a historic leap in household income and entered a well-off society mode. According to a survey conducted by the magazine Qiushi Journal in 1996, more than a million Chinese owned assets of a million yuan or more. In 1995, Forbes magazine began to publish its List of China’s Richest People. In 1999, the Hurun Top 100 Richest People in China was unveiled. By then, people no longer hid their desire for wealth, but the “naked” desire aroused new social problems, such as the increasing gap between the rich and the poor.

21st Century: The Era of Financial Planning

The concept of financial planning is now practiced by many families. People once equaled financial planning to bank saving, but now they have more options, including funds, stocks, insurance, gold transaction and foreign exchange.

In 2001, after 15 years of arduous negotiations, China entered the World Trade Organization (WTO), opening a new chapter in the nation’s participation in globalization. China’s entry into the WTO is reputed as the “second reform and opening-up.”“Almost all world-famous garment brands have OEM factories in China,” said Zhang Yankai, vice executive director of the Sub-Council of Textile Industry under the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT). China has become one of the fastest-growing countries in the world. Made-in-China products are sold around the world, while many world-renowned enterprises have set up operations in China.

Meanwhile, the popularity of the Internet has changed people’s lives and created numerous economic miracles. A number of hi-tech Internet-based companies, including Sohu, Alibaba, Tencent and NetEase, have won fame in global competitions. China’s economic development initiated a steady increase in household income. By 2006, the total household savings deposit had reached 16.159 trillion yuan. Moreover, China revised its constitutional law to protect private properties. In October 2007, the Real Right Law of China was enacted. The report to the 17th National Congress of the CPC indicates that China has set up a goal to “increase residents’ property incomes.”

The increase in personal income continues to stimulate the upgrade in the standard of living, as well as the growth of individual investments. Many people are focused on the rising stock and real estate markets. The number of registered stock investors once rose by 300,000 per day. Banks and insurance companies have also introduced a variety of investment products. In addition, the mode of consumption has also changed, especially for the younger generation. Along with the popularity of credit cards and bank loans, credit consumption is a way of life.

Having experienced the surging stock market between 2006 and 2007 and the worldwide financial crisis in 2008, Chinese people now maintain a more clear-minded attitude towards wealth. More and more people have realized that the extensive economic growth mode sacrificed the environment and natural resources, and that a healthy, sustainable development pattern should be popularized.

Material wealth does not always lead to spiritual comfort. Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka Shing said that wealth does not equal honor; that real wealth is derived from what you do for society.