China having 358 billionaires

The rise of polo in China reveals much about the
vast wealth of the country - and the lucky one
percent who control it .
Tianjin, China - At first glance , the Cambridge
Challenge polo tournament seemed to replicate a
perfect English summer 's day .
Eight young players charged their mounts across a
bright green field; the thump of hooves into soft turf
was broken only by the occasional thwack of a
mallet colliding with a small white ball - to send it
racing across the ground.
Several hundred guests braved the summer heat to
watch 47 polo players compete in 12 matches,
spread out over five days . It all led to the final on
July 20, when the team from London was finally
crowned this year 's champion.
But this was no ordinary matchup . Six teams of
students came from some of the best- known
institutions on both sides of the Atlantic : Oxford ,
Harvard, Cambridge , Stanford , University of London ,
and Yale . This was a " who's who " of elite old -world
education.
And even more striking than the line - up was the
location, for these teams met on a field in Xiqing
District on the outskirts of Tianjin - some 100 km
from Beijing, the political centre of Communist China .
The rise of polo in China reveals a lot about the
country's market today : it speaks to the vast wealth
of China ' s winners - the lucky one percent - and the
staggering ambition that has developed here in the
past few decades.
The game of emperors and bourgeoisies
Polo, the so- called game of kings , was once the
game of Chinese Emperors.
During the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907 AD) , horseback
games were played by officials, soldiers, and
civilians. The emperors liked to watch.
However , what remained of the sport in the 1900 s
soon disappeared under Communist rule. This
bourgeoisie sport was not compatible with the mood
of the times .
Today, with two international standard polo fields ,
world - class stables , and a lavish clubhouse
designed in faux European chateau style - appearing
bourgeoisie does not seem to concern the Tianjin
Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club.
" I think our facility is top - notch , it is the best in
China , the best in Asia, and perhaps even among the
best in the world ," said Harvey Lee , vice chairman of
Goldin Real Estate Financial Holding , the developer
behind the project .
Goldin courted the International Polo Association ,
bringing events such as the Snow Polo World Cup -
one of the world 's premier polo tournaments - to
Tianjin . They also worked with the European polo
world , even British royalty , with the Goldin Group
Charity Polo Cup event in the UK and hired
international experts, foremost among them Luis
Lalor , former president of the Argentine Polo
Association.
And as Jim DeAngelis , Yale University's varsity polo
coach, told Al Jazeera , all the effort and expense
appears to draw attention , recognition , and events .
" It' s a tremendous facility that we had to come see
to believe . It 's really incredible: the quality of horses ,
the quality of the facility , the organisation ," he said .
And yet , by all possible measures , polo remains a
minority sport in China - few people watch or play it.
The grand sell
Beyond the polo fields , a series of giant towers
reached to the sky amid a flock of metal cranes.
Chief among them is Goldin Finance 117 , and upon
completion in 2015 it will reach a height of 597
metres .
The tower "is part of a much bigger real estate
project , called Golden Metropolitan, which includes a
central business district , a residential zone , and a
polo club", Harvey Lee said .
The entire project consists of multiple skyscrapers , a
6 -star hotel, a large theatre complex , multi -million
dollar apartments, vast villas in European styles, an
international convention centre, and the polo club
itself . This is real estate development on the
grandest scale .
It is within this context that the investment in polo
begins to make more sense. Goldin , first and
foremost a real estate developer, has built one of the
world 's best polo facilities for marketing purposes .
" We are not just any real estate developer, we see
that our product is lifestyle," Lee said.
A Harvard alumni and former managing director of
Goldman Sachs Asia, Lee was blunt about his
company 's methods .
" We go after the tip of the wealth pyramid. So
everything has to be done in a way that attracts this
particular group, " he said.
And they are certainly a group worth attracting.
According to the Hurun Report 's 2014 Global Rich
List , China now has 358 billionaires , second only to
the US . Below them, the number of very wealthy
continues to expand . Hurun' s 2013 Chinese
Millionaire Wealth Report estimated more than a
million individuals possess assets exceeding $ 1 .6 m
or more .
To attract these consumers , Goldin is employing a
classic real estate sales tactic , according to Liz
Flora of Jing Daily , a website that tracks trends in
China 's luxury industries.
" A lot of golf courses are built as part of a real estate
development . They are professional courses , but the
main push is definitely real estate. It makes sense
that polo would be used as well, " she said.
And real estate was pushed pretty hard .
The on -site sales tent at the Cambridge Challenge,
which all guests were initially funnelled through to
get to the event , was filled with everything designed
to attract cash -rich Chinese millionaires.
Sprawling models of the entire real estate project
were rendered in exquisite detail; the walls were
adorned with golden framed photos depicting the
high life; piles of polo equipment lay artfully arranged
like the goods in some high -end boutique .
'Yale in China '
Even the theme - an intervarsity tournament - was
part of the marketing plan .
" The audience you see today , most probably don 't
know much about polo, most are probably watching
polo for the first time . .. it' s not just the polo that the
audience wants, they also want that connection point
with the schools," said Lee .
The schools themselves were no doubt very happy
to be used in this way . Chinese students are huge
business , and they have their own brands to
promote.
" There's a very large 'Yale in China ' programme ,"
explained Liz Brayboy , the director of the Yale polo
programme.
" Yale has a particular fondness and relationship with
China - there are a lot of cross- efforts for
education" .
A report by the Institute of International Education
reveals that in 2013 the number of Chinese students
enrolled in US institutions reached 235 , 597 . That
is 28 .7 percent of the total number of international
students .
Beyond the salesroom
Through sales and marketing , polo might make a
dramatic upswing in popularity in China .
" I don ' t know , I think it will take another 10 years to
see the position of polo in this country.. . Right now
we are more like golf in China 20 years ago ,"
Goldin' s Lee said.
Guan Yuexia , a young woman from Hebei province ,
travelled several hours to reach this event . She
looked excited but sceptical of ever playing polo
herself .
" We just bring a kind of spectator-only mentality to
watching this sport . I also like to watch badminton -
but it is much more suited to my lifestyle, the
opportunity to take part is just much greater. "