Why China Never Lets Its Billionaires Run the Country - Wang Gungwu

Wang Gungwu is ninety-five and has spent seventy years explaining China to people who were not always listening. In this conversation for JAR Capital in Singapore, he sets out how China actually runs, and why the West keeps misreading it. He starts with the factory years. Western capitalists made the fortunes from investing in China, China kept a small share and learned everything, and nobody in the West thought that mattered. So when Americans say China stole their jobs, he says American capital moved them. Then the rule he thinks matters most: China put merchants at the bottom of the social scale on purpose, and today's billionaires can make as much money as they like but must never use it to govern. The party, like the emperor before it, is above the law because it made the law. And a local official gets promoted for one thing above all: fewer protests. The interviewer never pushes back, so the last minute and a half is ours. Some of his claims hold up, and some do not. *Chapters* 0:00 They're learning from us 3:15 The West misjudged Deng 5:48 Who took America's jobs 8:21 Merchants at the bottom 10:35 Billionaires must share 13:09 Above the law 16:20 Save the party, save China 17:56 Promoted for fewer protests 19:38 Checking his claims *The speaker* Wang Gungwu, historian of China and the Chinese overseas, University Professor at the National University of Singapore. *Source* "JAR Capital Interviews Series - Professor Wang GungWu", JAR Capital Group, 11 June 2026. Full interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7K907fdAsY Cover background: "Electronics factory in Shenzhen" by Steve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. #WangGungwu #China #Billionaires #USChina #Geopolitics #Singapore #History #voicence