Stars, Stripes, and Shackles

Back in 1999, when the Hurun Rich List first came out — China’s answer to the Forbes list — we in the biz had a different name for it:
“The Butcher’s List” (杀猪榜).

Why? Simple. Getting your name on it felt like getting a target painted on your back.
One moment you’re being toasted as a titan of industry — the next, the tax bureau, the CCP disciplinarians, and your local “benevolent” overlords (父母官) are all at your door.
Charges fly. Assets freeze. Fortunes vanish.

It didn’t take long to figure it out: in China, the real status symbol isn’t being on the list — it’s staying off it.
People pulled strings, greased palms, or flat-out threatened the compilers just to disappear from the rankings.
To this day, the Butcher’s List lives on — a cautionary tale of standing too tall in a system that prefers heads slightly bowed.

Fast-forward to the military, and now it’s PLA promotions that come with the same ominous glow.

Take January 21, 2022 class of General. A grand ceremony. Seven officers promoted to General.
Here’s what’s left of them:
•Liu Qingsong (Northern Theater Political Commissar)
•Wu Yanan (Central Theater Commander)
•Xu Deqing (Central Theater Political Commissar)
•Qin Shutong (Army Political Commissar)
•Yuan Huazhi (Navy Political Commissar)
•Li Yuchao (Rocket Force Commander)
•Zhang Hongbing (Armed Police Political Commissar)

Every. Single. One. Gone.
Detained, disgraced, or disappeared — not one made it out clean.
What looked like a career peak turned out to be the edge of a cliff.

So yes — in CCP China, staying out of sight isn’t weakness. It’s strategy. The pinnacle, after all, is where heads roll first.

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