CHINA - A New Phenomenon: Inheritance

The first generation to get rich after China embarked on market reforms is beginning to die, which is why Chen Kai’s state-backed charity, the China Will Registration Center, is helping the elderly write and file wills. Yet even Mr. Chen is somewhat conflicted about China’s first big inter-generational transfer. A small sliver of society will soon be inheriting vast wealth.

It was only in the late 1970s that Deng Xiaoping, then China’s paramount leader, opened the economy and “let some people get rich first” as a step towards “common prosperity.” Over that time a lot of people have become rich. In 2025 alone, mainland China minted 70 new billionaires, bringing the total to 470, according to a report by UBS, a bank. (America has 924). These billionaires alone have amassed some $1.8 trillion.

From 2006 to 2015 there were fewer than 90,000 court judgments on matters of inheritance, according to The Economist’s tally. From 2016 to 2025 that number almost quintupled. This reflects increasingly complex families, with more divorces, unmarried parents, childless couples, children living abroad and so on. Chinese law splits assets evenly between parents, spouses and children (including those from mistresses), but some want to pass their wealth to grandchildren or unmarried partners. To complicate matters more, many wills are not valid.

The problem afflicts more than the ultra-rich. China’s 500-million-strong middle class has also accumulated wealth, including through the privatization of public housing. The urban home-ownership rate rose from 20% in 1980 to 96% in 2022.

At any rate, wealth is becoming more concentrated. In 2024 the top 1% in China held 30% of the wealth and the top 10% held 68%, according to estimates from the World Inequality Database overseen by Thomas Piketty, a French economist.

-www.economist.com, 12 March 2026

Commentary: Accumulation of riches, particularly in the industrialized world, is a given. Invested money does grow, and so does real estate and other assets.

According to WorldBank.org, in 1991, 60% of China’s workforce was employed in agriculture. In 2025, this has dropped to 22%. That simply means a much larger number of former farm workers will enter the industrial workforce.

According to Wikipedia, the global share of manufacturing value in US dollars for 2024 was China 28%, European Union 26.7%, USA 15%.

What was unthinkable only a few decades ago—for China to supersede the US— is by far now a reality. Communist China’s problem is accumulating too much wealth. Many ask: What is China’s secret? We may describe it succinctly: ability to change. They base their economy on a communist-socialist-capitalist hybrid. Quite obviously, it’s working well.

What is not mentioned in multiple economic statistics and reports is the Church. For us, that is the most important thing. One of the most well-known missionaries to China was James Hudson Taylor (1822-1905).

He and many others had sown the Word, and now it bears fruit. A Google search reveals: “Christianity in China is experiencing rapid growth with estimates ranging from 44 million to over 100 million believers.

Officially, the church is divided between the state-sanctioned bodies and ‘independent house churches.’ In the latter case, only estimates exist and they differentiate widely.”

Yet we as Bible believers know for sure that Jesus’ words will continue to be true: “I will build my church.”

While there is horrible persecution against Christians, according to various reliable organizations, comfort is given to those who are persecuted. Philippians 1:29 declares: “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.”

(See The Sure Foundation of the Church, Item #1066, $18.50.)