CPPCC opens annual session
Print Edition
Billionaires and celebrities were among more than 2,000 members who gathered in Beijing yesterday for the annual meeting of China’s top political advisory body.
The annual session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference opened in the Great Hall of the People with a moment of silence for the victims of Saturday night’s terrorist attack in the southwestern city of Kunming.
The 2,172 people present included business tycoons, political scions and sports and movie stars, according to a transcript of the opening ceremony, which came ahead of tomorrow’s opening session of the National People’s Congress, China’s parliament.
Robin Li, co-founder and chairman of Chinese search engine Baidu and according to Forbes magazine the third-richest person on China’s mainland with a net worth of 67.7 billion yuan (US$11 billion), is a member representing China’s business community, a list on the CPPCC website showed.
He is joined by Xu Jiayin, chairman of real estate firm Evergrande, who has a fortune estimated at 32.9 billion yuan, and Li Shufu, head of Zhejiang Geely, which bought Volvo’s car business in 2010.
Victor Li, the elder son of Asia’s richest man Li Ka-shing, is also a “specially invited” member of the CPPCC.
Some representatives have strong political family ties, such as Mao Xinyu, grandson of the People’s Republic of China founder Mao Zedong, and Deng Nan, a daughter of Deng Xiaoping, who opened up the country to the outside world after the “cultural revolution (1966-76).”
Other members included Hong Kong martial arts star Jackie Chan and Feng Xiaogang, one of China’s highest-grossing film directors.
Writer and Nobel literature laureate Mo Yan and the Panchen Lama, a senior Tibetan Buddhist leader, were also on the member list.
Five people were stripped of their CPPCC membership over the past year, reportedly for corruption offenses, including Liu Yingxia, one of China’s richest women.
At the opening ceremony, Yu Zhengsheng, CPPCC chairman and a member of the Party’s Politburo Standing Committee, said members must “strictly abide by” laws and “conscientiously refine their sense of morality and conduct.”
“CPPCC members must ... cherish this honor and safeguard the image of the CPPCC,” he said.
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