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Arnaud Bertrand

@RnaudBertrand

This is actually a very significant difference between India and China. Never would a Chinese billionaire dare have such an ostentatious wedding, because they understand how indecent it'd be and how badly it'd be perceived by pretty much everyone. And never would a senior party leader - let alone Xi - attend such an event as it'd immediately sound the death knell of their career. There are many extremely wealthy Chinese but wealth has to be discreet: if as a billionaire you were to start vulgarly flaunting your wealth or becoming too arrogant, it's a virtual certainty you'll quickly regret it. It's interestingly very similar to France: we too culturally despise wealthy people who show off and hold money as a value in and of itself. Maybe even more so than the Chinese actually (although, unlike in China, the wealthy hold a lot of sway over the French government). It's actually an interesting topic of study: why is it ok in some cultures to be so ostentatious (like India and the US) and not in others (China or France)? <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/zhao_dashuai/status/1812441815565717539" color="blue">x.com/zhao_dashuai/s…</a>