Opinion | Pictured: Henan residents on rampage over Honda driver's sense of entitlement

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A crowd smashes a car in Jiyuan, Henan on Friday. Photo: Screenshot from Sina Weibo

Published: 4:09pm, 27 May 2013Updated: 4:13am, 29 Aug 2013

When the side rearview mirror of a black Honda bumped a 10-year-old girl on her way home from school, the driver - instead of helping the child - insulted and hit the mother. "I come from an influential family," the driver said.

The incident on Friday evening in Henan province soon attracted an angry crowd of people who smashed and overturned the 26-year-old woman's car. A man surnamed Zhang tried to set it on fire, according to a police report.

It took police until midnight to pacify the crowd as photos and video footage of the scene circulated online. Many of the comments represented outrage against the sense of entitlement of the privileged few.

As the gap between rich and poor is increasing, examples of nepotism and favouritism are striking a nerve. Such distaste from the public has been characterised by the phrase "My dad is Li Gang" - the words of a police official's drunken son when he tried to avoid arrest after a student died in a car crash in 2010.

The phrase has become synonymous with fuerdai and guanerdai, second-generation rich and cadres, and has turned the 22-year-old son, now in jail after a public outcry, into the archetype of abuse of power.

This year, several local newspapers have given insights into the careers of the offspring of state leaders including Deng Xiaoping's grandson, Li Peng's daughter and Hu Jintao's son, leading netizens to heap scorn at "rocket-speed promotions" and their wealth.

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