Friday, March 29, 2013

Tiger Mom or Money Launderer?

A dorm with a view.

The popular perception is that Chinese people see the world through long term horizons - they measure time generationally rather than weekly or quarterly as do Americans. Those looking to perpetuate that view need look no further than the case of the Chinese mother who has spent US$6.5 million on a New York apartment near Fifth Avenue to house her daughter when the girl eventually (and no doubt inevitably, damn it!) attends an Ivy League university. A typical over-achieving, over-coddling Asian Tiger Mom? Maybe, but with a distinctive twist: her daughter is just two years old. This Business Insider article provides further details.

This woman obviously lives with purpose and vision. However, what she sees perhaps only she knows. A bright academic future for her brilliant child? An optimistic view of high-end Manhattan real estate? A great opportunity to put some idle, possibly “dirty”, offshore cash to work by converting it into a hard asset? Maybe all of the above. Speculation on what is going on has lit up the Chinese microblog sites. If nothing else, we’ll find out in sixteen years.

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