Wealthiest in Beijing spend heavily on luxury cars, collections, golf and health

In addition to being China's "political and cultural center", Beijing can now call itself the nation's favorite shopping center for its richest citizens, according to the results of a new survey.

A salesman checks an Aston Martin with a sticker price of more than 2 million yuan at a car showroom. A survey shows that Beijing's richest are willing to spend more than the richest in the other parts of the country. [China Daily]

In the research, carried out by Hurun, a research company that has tracked China's rich and famous for 11 years, billionaires and multimillionaires revealed they each spend 2.2 million yuan a year on living the high life in the capital - in other cities, they spend an average of 1.7 million yuan.

The survey was carried out between April and November and involved scrutiny of 383 high-rollers who were each worth in excess of 10 million yuan.

Among the 383 millionaires and billionaires polled, 83 were Beijing residents.

Their average age was just 38.7.

Porsha Pan, communications manager with Hurun Report, told METRO that experienced investigators sat down one on one with some of the nation's richest people.

"We interviewed the rich people for 15 to 30 minutes each. As we did it face-to-face, we can ensure the authenticity of our data," she said.

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The report shows more than 80 percent of Beijing's richest people own between two and five luxury cars. That ranks first among the wealthy nationwide. Second nationally was Guangdong, where 40 percent own between two and five top autos.

The study also revealed 48 percent of the capital's most affluent people owned between three and 10 famous-brand watches, again topping the national research.

Beijing's rich like to relax on the golf course. In the capital, the rich spend more on golf than rich people do in any other city.

And they like to collect too, spending vast amounts on wristwatches, jewelry and on buying ancient paintings and calligraphy.

The report also revealed wealthy people cared more about their health last year. Some 78 percent of Beijing's most affluent people attended regular physical examinations, again the highest ratio in China.

Li Jinchun, a 48-year-old former property developer with more than 50 million yuan of wealth, told METRO most of his rich friends spent a lot of time and money on their health.

"After all, you can't enjoy a luxury life without a healthy body. Last year, I spent two to three months traveling," he said.

And the rich are by no means a miniscule part of Beijing life.

A Hurun report released in April revealed there were 143,000 multimillionaires and 8,800 billionaires in the capital.

Measured against Beijing's population of 17.55 million last year, that meant there was one multimillionaire for every 123 residents.

Pan said more information will be released in April.

"The rich population has grown in the latest survey. As for Beijing's rich, nearly 50 percent are worth more than 50 million yuan."

In other parts of the country, the number worth more than 50 million yuan was 33 percent.

"But most of the wealthy people in Beijing are so low-profile. Their most noticeable characteristics are compatibility and nostalgia," said Rupert Hoogewerf, known as Hu Run in China, the British founder of Hurun rich report who made the comment during an earlier interview with Beijing Morning Post.