- Wang Sicong, billionaire heir to Chinese real estate mogul Wang Jianlin, has been banned by a court order from traveling first class, buying property, staying in luxury hotels, going on vacations, playing golf, or visiting nightclubs.
- According to The South China Morning Post, Wang was banned from these luxuries last month due to a Shanghai court order related to a lawsuit his e-sports company Shanghai Panda Entertainment Co lost.
- News of the court order resurfaced in local media after it was revealed in a separate court case in Beijing that Wang owed a personal debt of about 151 million yuan ($21.6 million).
- Wang’s court order may be in accordance with the country’s strict social credit system, the country’s massive ranking system, which monitors the behavior if its 1.4 billion citizens, according to The Daily Mail.
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Wang Sicong, the only son of Chinese real estate mogul Wang Jianlin and the heir to his estimated $12.5 billion fortune, has been banned from doing stereotypical billionaire heir activities: traveling and partying.
According to The South China Morning Post, Wang was banned from these luxuries last month via a court order after his e-sports company Shanghai Panda Entertainment Co lost a lawsuit in Shanghai Jiading District Court.
News of the court order resurfaced in local media on Monday after a separate court case said the 31-year-old owed a personal debt of about 151 million yuan ($21.6 million).
According to The Post, the Shanghai ruling prevents Wang from traveling first class, buying property, staying in luxury hotels, going on vacations, playing golf, or visiting nightclubs. These restrictions may be lifted by the court if it appears to infringe on his legitimate business ventures, The Post added.
The Millennial heir is commonly referred to as “China’s most eligible bachelor” and often flaunts his wealth by throwing lavish star-studded parties, and buying expensive tech gadgets — including eight iPhones — for his dog, Coco.
According to The Daily Mail, Wang’s court order may be in accordance with the country’s strict social credit system, the country’s massive ranking system, which monitors the behavior if its 1.4 billion citizens. People can be rewarded or punished based on their social scores, and can be banned from activities like taking trains, flying, or staying in luxury hotels.
Offenses that could impact social credit ratings include failing to pay a fine, jaywalking, loitering, or even not picking up after your dog. The country is working to combine its 170+ million security cameras with artificial intelligence and facial recognition technology to create a vast surveillance state in order to keep tabs on citizen’s activities.
The system will be fully operational by 2020, but it has already been trialed in several cities across China. According to The Daily Mail, Wang has yet to be completely discredited by the system, but could face detention should he go against the order.
The social credit system has already punished millions of people with low rankings, barring them from buying plane tickets or taking trains last year, according to Associated Press.
- Read more:
- China has started ranking citizens with a creepy ‘social credit’ system — here’s what you can do wrong, and the embarrassing, demeaning ways they can punish you
- Chinese dog owners are being assigned a social credit score to keep them in check — and it seems to be working
- These are the things that can get you punished under China’s creepy ‘social credit’ system — from fake news to jaywalking
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