The number of dollar billionaires in China has dropped by a third over the past three years due to government crackdowns, economic weakness, and a stock market downturn, according to the “rich list” compiled by research group Hurun.

Hurun reported that the number of dollar billionaires, which peaked at 1,185 in 2021, has now fallen to 753—a 36% decline that outpaces the 10% drop in the value of the renminbi against the dollar during the same period.

In 2022 alone, the number of Chinese dollar billionaires fell by 16%, even as the renminbi depreciated by only 2.5% against the dollar.

The list has also seen rapid shifts, with older entrepreneurs, such as property developers, being replaced by figures like Zhang Yiming, chairman of ByteDance. The 41-year-old founder of ByteDance, which owns the popular short-video platforms TikTok and its Chinese equivalent Douyin, became China’s richest person for the first time, with a fortune of $49 billion, despite his company facing scrutiny from the U.S. government, according to Hurun.

Meanwhile, the former frontrunner, Nongfu Spring’s 70-year-old founder, saw the company’s share price fall by 40% amid accusations on social media of being “pro-Japanese.”

Entrepreneurs from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan also made the list.

“The rich list has shrunk for the third consecutive year as China’s economy and stock markets face ongoing challenges,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, president of the Hurun Report.

Hurun’s wealth estimates were compiled at the end of August, not accounting for the stock market rally in September following China’s announcement of a monetary stimulus package.

The decline in ultra-wealthy individuals aligns with the collapse of China’s once-booming property market, which has eliminated many wealthy property developers.

China’s e-commerce billionaires have also been impacted by government crackdowns but have shown resilience. Pony Ma, founder of Tencent, the company behind WeChat, ranked third on the list, while Colin Huang, founder of Pinduoduo and Temu, was fourth.

Chris Xu Yangtian, founder of international clothing platform Shein, ranked 76th with a fortune of $7 billion.

Hurun noted that the new generation of Chinese entrepreneurs is more international in outlook than their predecessors.

Former top-ranked Jack Ma of Alibaba, who led the list in 2020, fell to 10th place this year after a period out of the public eye, which began after the government canceled the highly anticipated IPO of his financial group, Alipay.

Hurun also reported that 15% of the rich list members reside outside mainland China in places like Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan. Additionally, 30 members live in the U.S. and Singapore, with the latter becoming an increasingly popular offshore location for Chinese billionaires.

About 7% of the list’s members belong to China’s top political advisory bodies, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference or the National People’s Congress.

Industries like smartphone and new energy have seen rising prominence on the list, represented by entrepreneurs such as Robin Zeng of lithium battery maker CATL, Li Zhenguo of solar panel maker Longi, Lei Jun of smartphone maker Xiaomi, and Frank Wang of drone maker DJI. These sectors have gained significantly more influence over the past decade.

Illusion of knowledge is one of the important elements in the intellectual crisis of the young generation. Many young people think that they have reached a deep understanding of existential crises by reading a few philosophical books or coming across to some modern Western literature; but in fact, this superficial reading only leads to an illusion of understanding, if they have actually read.

Because many are satisfied with spelling the name of the book and its author, they count it in the list of read books and guess the content of the book based on its cover and title.

After listening to Sadiq Hedayat, they become acutely depressed and consider sleep and isolation as the last refuge of a person. They start using the words sad, depressed, ambiguous, and symbolic, and mention the pains that eat away at the human soul… They have trouble pronouncing some names, but they claim that he understood the essence of existentialism. And they suffer from existential anxiety.

Without reading “nausea”, they become “strangers” with everything, because they heard the name of “Camus” where people and things upset them. They like “Kafka” because they have heard that he is a famous writer. They post pictures on social networks to say that they have become full-fledged feminists, while not knowing what the content of that book is.

They don’t have the patience to read “Said Zarathustra”, but they consider themselves friends of “Friedrich Nietzsche” and announce the “death of God.”

Their swimming with Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Hume, Hegel, and Socrates is as much as hearing their names and reading a few pieces of their words in the virtual space, and they don’t even know in what context and time they lived; Hegel was a contemporary of Socrates or Nietzsche was a student of Hume!… They have heard of Kant, Neumann and Phenomenon, and they use them every now and then, but they don’t know exactly what they mean.

We need to have courage to “read” and courage to “think”

They read somewhere that Immanuel Kant said to have the courage to think, so they publish a picture with a book by Proust or Haruki and write that all the problems of our society is that our nation does not have the courage to think.

A significant part of our young people considers hearing the name of the school, people, books and terms as equal to understanding it.

Rather, they claim to understand it after reading Fafka’s metamorphosis, and before they see being and time closely, they consider themselves Heideggerians… They don’t talk about Jaspers, Wittgenstein, Gadamer, and others, because they don’t know them and don’t know that there were people with these names where they left a fundamental impact on philosophy and literature.

The reason for not knowing them is that maybe they haven’t read anything about them on social media platforms yet… Of course, they don’t know about today’s currents, otherwise they would criticize Zizek and Umberto.

We don’t know anything about the philosophers on this side of the world

The saddest thing of all is that they like the “smell of the West and the taste of the beans”, because they think that whoever deals with Westerners and English names, the absolute truth of their past will be revealed and approved by everyone.

We don’t know anything about the philosophers on this side of the world, who, according to Hafez, even if they are the full point of existence, and they even declare reading it equal to intellectual and cultural backwardness.

This illusion of knowledge among a large part of the youth, which indicates an intellectual crisis, has finally led to a lack of sustainable meaning. In the modern world, where the traditional foundations of meaning have collapsed and given their place to relativism, and young people who do not consider anything to be right or appropriate from any school or thought, they find themselves faced with infinite options. This obsession with choices has led to a kind of existential paralysis and has taken away the stable meaning from them.

According to Jean-Paul Sartre, human beings are condemned to freedom, and this condemnation means that man is free in his choices, but this freedom ultimately puts a burden of unbearable responsibilities on his shoulders.

Human beings are condemned to freedom, and this condemnation means to have right to think 

By reading superficial novels and hearing the names of philosophers, today’s youth quickly enter a stage where they question the meaning of life and everything else; But they do not have the ability to create a new meaning for themselves. They strip “wade” before they get “new clothes” for themselves.

This is where “emptiness enters their lungs with oxygen”, and in Camus’s words, this “emptiness” becomes a stone that they can’t bear and finally stops them from moving.

As a result, awareness of this crisis is perhaps the first spark to get rid of the chains of illusion of knowledge — because facing this illusion and recognizing weaknesses not only requires the courage to enter the world of deep thinking but is also a step towards deeper self-awareness.

The young generation must go beyond superficial appearances and slogans, boldly step into the world of original thinking and real questioning.

Without serious reading and critical thinking, one can’t hope for better tomorrow

This entry means crossing the paths of “ready” thoughts and facing “darkness and cognitive doubts”; A step that is possible only by careful reading and reflection on the hidden layers of every thought.

By using critical thinking and a philosophical view instead of imitating ready-made formats, one can escape from the trap of illusion of knowledge and instead, open horizons of meaning and awareness that are rooted in self-awareness and fundamental understanding.

This effort is not only a way to escape from the existing intellectual crisis, but it can initiate a deep transformation in the individual and society; A transformation that returns the spirit of search and dynamism to today’s man and saves him from confusion and instability. It is only in this way that we can find a way out of the current situation and hope for a good future. Without serious reading and critical thinking, one cannot hope for the future of thought in this country.

Iran has confirmed that two military personnel were killed following Israeli airstrikes early Saturday, involving over 100 drones and missiles, underscoring the scale of the operation. Iranian media identified the victims as Jahandidah and Staff Sergeant Shahrokhifar.

Israeli media says that Israeli officials, including the country’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have been closely monitoring the attack from the military’s command center in Tel Aviv. 

The Israeli army said that this action was in response to Iran’s missile attack on the country earlier this month. This attack is the latest confrontation in the increasing conflicts between the two hostile countries.

After a few hours of the attack, the Israeli army announced that the country’s attacks have ended, and its goals have been achieved.

Israeli army spokesman, Daniel Hagari warned Iran not to react; while an Iranian news agency reported, quoting the country’s officials that Tehran will have a “proportionate” reaction to Israel’s actions.

Iranian media reported that several explosions occurred within hours in the capital and nearby military bases. This comes as before the sunrise on Saturday, Israel announced that three waves of attacks had been completed and the operation was over.

However, Iran announced that its air defense system succeeded in repelling Israeli attacks on military targets in the provinces of Tehran, Khuzestan and Ilam. But it confirmed that “limited” damage has been done to some places. So far, the details of the number of missiles fired and drones hitting targets in Iran have not been disclosed.

The region is close to a regional war ignited by the US

After Iran’s attack on Israel on October first, concerns among the Middle East countries about Israel’s attack on Iran has been intensified. At that time, Iran fired about 200 rockets at Israel and one person in the West Bank died as a result of these attacks.

Tensions between Israel and Iran, as arch-rivals of each other, have increased since Hamas, a group allegedly supported by Iran, attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. Hamas is also supported by Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which is also said to be supported by Iran.

With the escalation of Israel’s attacks on Lebanon’s Hezbollah since last month, including its airstrikes on the Lebanese capital Beirut and its ground operations and year-long war in Gaza, concerns have increased about the possibility of Iran and the United States being drawn into a regional war.

“In response to months of continuous attacks by the Iranian regime against the State of Israel, the Israeli Defense Forces are currently conducting precision strikes against military targets in Iran,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

The Israeli army claimed that it had ended its “targeted” attacks on Iran, targeting the country’s missile production facilities and missile defense systems. Israel added that its planes have returned safely to their bases.

The Israeli army emphasized in a statement: “If the Iranian regime makes the mistake of starting a new round of escalation, we will be forced to respond.”

Meanwhile, a US official said the targets did not include Iran’s energy infrastructure or nuclear facilities.

US President Joe Biden, who is the main supporter and supplier of weapons to Israel, previously warned that Washington would not support an attack on Tehran’s nuclear facilities and that Israel should consider other options instead of attacking Iran’s oil fields.

The United States was aware of the Israeli attacks

Video footage released by Iranian media showed air defense systems continuously firing at Israeli missiles in central Tehran.

Without specifying which sites were targeted, the Tasnim news agency reported that the IRGC bases that had been attacked were not damaged and said that as of 9:00 a.m. (05:30 GMT) after a pause during Israel’s attack, it resumed its flights.

Meanwhile, Israel’s defense minister also held talks with US defense minister Lloyd Austin after the attacks began.

The Pentagon says that Mr. Austin emphasized strengthening the US force posture to defend American, Israeli and partner forces and personnel throughout the region.

An American official told Reuters that Israel had informed the United States before the attack; But Washington was not involved in these attacks.

Iran is not willing to involve in war with Israel

Unfortunately, Iran is involved in a ping pong war with Israel and there is no end sees in sight. It is predicted that if the cycle of war continues, the US will be involved too. In this case, the situation will grow worse, and the damage will be serious.

It is the expectation that the United Nations and US should have behaved more responsibly and prevent the spread of war in the region.

It is a belief among the Iranian people that the United States tried to convince Israel to measure its attacks carefully, it also assured the country that it would help defend it if Tehran launched a counterattack. This support includes Biden’s decision to transfer US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile defense systems to Israel. Biden has already sent about 100 American soldiers to advance the operation of these systems to the Middle East.

But the Iranian people and even the government are not willing to involve themselves in the war, but the spokesman of Iran foreign affairs ministry announced that Iran has the right to defend the country.

Reactions to Israel’s attack on Iran

Saudi Arabia condemned the attack as a “violation of sovereignty” and international law and called on all parties to show maximum restraint. Riyadh asked the international community to take necessary measures to reduce tensions and end conflicts in the region.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, in a statement in response to Israel’s missile attack on Iran, said that these attacks are a “gross violation” of the United Nations Charter and international laws.

“These attacks undermine peace and stability in the region and cause a dangerous escalation of conflicts in the region,” the statement said, and held Israel responsible for the escalation and expansion of the conflict in the region.

These attacks have also been met with reactions from a number of Afghan politicians.

Hamid Karzai, the former president of Afghanistan, condemned Israel’s missile attack and called it a “violation of the national sovereignty and privacy” of Iran.