Society

The 8th Chinese Fertility Festival Guangzhou 2010, held in Guangzhou Jinhan Exhibition Center on 29th October 2010, attracted more visitors than previous festivals.

"The streets are paved with gold; there's paradise on Earth." So said Marco Polo after he visited China seven centuries ago and came away awed by a land enjoying prosperity. The explosion of wealth apparent on our new Forbes China Rich List suggests that the nation is once again enjoying another golden age.

The number of billionaires on the list has ballooned to 128, from 79 last year. Only the U.S. has more--400 on our latest U.S. Rich List--but China is closing the gap. The total wealth of the 400 people on the new China list rose to $423 billion, from $314 billion a year earlier. Illustrating the amount of flux in China's wealth landscape, this year's 400 list has more than 100 people who were not members last year. Many of those debuted in connection with China's world-leading IPO fundraising this year. The minimum amount of wealth needed to make this year's 400 list is $425 million, up from $300 million last year.

China's hunger is cascading across global markets, pushing prices of food commodities sharply higher lately. Back home, this boom is becoming a source of worry.

Over the next decade, China's annual grain demand is likely to reach 573 million tons, which is above its current production levels. With marginal increases in crop yield shrinking and arable land harder to find, the bet is on that Beijing may swiftly become more reliant than ever on global markets for an essential class of commodities it is desperate to keep mostly home-grown.

Soybeans traded in Chicago are at their highest price in 14 months, largely because of the strength of Chinese demand. Palm oil on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange breached a 27-month peak this week. Thai rice prices are nearing a six-month high.

Inside China, this has already gone from just market play to a matter of public interest. In October, the price of staples such as cooking oil and sugar sold in China's supermarkets jumped 10% to 13%. News of food shortages—in corn, wheat, garlic, mung beans and sugar—have dominated local headlines this year.

Can a political campaign ad be hoist by its own petard?

We wrote last week about how “Chinese Professor,” a Hollywood-quality U.S. campaign ad depicting a dystopian future in which China rules the global economy, had raised the bar for China-bashing political messages. Now, after attempting to stifle a parody of the ad, the group that funded it, Citizens Against Government Waste, stands accused of taking a page out of Beijing’s own political handbook.

For those who missed it, the original ad – apparently inspired by a similar Reagan-era spot directed by Ridley Scott – shows a group of Chinese economics students in the year 2030 laughing victoriously as their professor explains how deficit spending and health-care reform doomed the U.S.

In the parody, produced by the liberal group Campus Progress, the subtitles have been altered to deliver a different message.