Being rich can shorten your life expectancy on the mainland
Being a Chinese billionaire carries not inconsiderable risks. Mainland authorities executed 14 billionaires over the past eight years, reports Bloomberg, citing the New Culture News newspaper.
These included Yuan Baojing, a former stockbroker executed by lethal injection in 2006 for the murder of a man who had tried to blackmail him. And Wang Zhendong, chairman of the Yingkou Donghua Trading Group, who was executed in 2008 for a scheme that persuaded investors to buy and breed ants, the newspaper reported.
The mainland has about 1,900 yuan billionaires, according to the 2010 Hurun report, which is twice as many than in 2009.
However, execution is not the only threat to being a billionaire. Death by unnatural causes claimed 39 during the past eight years. These included 17 suicides, 15 murders and seven accidents. Another 19 died from work-related illnesses.
Maybe getting rich isn't so glorious after all.