China is clamping down on celebrities and rich listers like Zhao Wei, Fan Bingbing, and Jack Ma as it considers as products of Western ideology.
Jamie Seidel, writing in news.com.au said that President Xi Jinping is changing course. He sees the mega-wealthy, supremely popular celebrities as products of Western ideology and wants to impose a new "Common Prosperity" - with Chinese characteristics.
Billionaire actress Zhao Wei has been 'erased' in China and she's just one of a long line of stars who've been banished from China's social media and entertainment platforms, said Seidel.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) also 'disappeared' tech billionaire Jack Ma and terminated the public float - issuing of shares - of his wildly successful Ant Group.
In 2018, actress Fan Bingbing suddenly disappeared from her high-profile life without warning.
Last week, television actress Zheng Shuang was fined USD 62 million. She'd allegedly attempted to hide the full extent of her income - a time-honoured tradition in the west, reported news.com.au.
Xi sees the immense individual wealth of entrepreneurs as a source of competing power. The success of many Chinese billionaires risked undermining the Party's core principles.
Xi doesn't like these influential celebrities, rich entrepreneurs. He sees them as dangerous capitalist reefs upon which the great ship the Party-state could be wrecked. So he's spun the helm over, hard, said Seidel.
Moreover, Xi is also embarking on a massive social re-engineering project to clear the path of any possible threat.
His speeches talk of preventing "irrational expansion of capital". They warn of the "barbarous growth" of private corporations. He insists his commissars must "guide companies to obey the Party's leadership".
Xi believes it's time to reign in the entrepreneurial spirit and replace it with the ideology of common prosperity, reported news.com.au.
At the 100th anniversary of the CCP's foundation in July, Xi set out his navigation plan.
"The Party has no special interests of its own -- it has never represented any individual interest group, power group, or privileged stratum," he said. "As we have fought to establish and consolidate our leadership over the country, we have in fact been fighting to earn and keep the people's support", said Xi at the anniversary celebration.
"We must continue to adapt the basic tenets of Marxism to China's specific realities and its fine traditional culture. We will use Marxism to observe, understand, and steer the trends of our times, and continue to develop the Marxism of contemporary China and in the 21st century", added Xi.
But no dissent will be tolerated, said Seidel.
"We must tighten the Party's organisational system, remain committed to improving Party conduct, upholding integrity, and combating corruption, and root out any elements that would harm the Party's advanced nature and purity and any viruses that would erode its health", said Xi.
( With inputs from ANI )
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