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Pursuits

Fake Moon Over Chengdu Shows Why China Is Billionaire Powerhouse

  • Wealth of China’s billionaires topped $1 trillion last year
  • ‘We’re in a new gilded age,’ says UBS executive John Mathews
The Chengdu skyline.

The Chengdu skyline.

Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

In the Sichuan city of Chengdu, Chinese rocket scientists are planning to suspend a man-made moon bright enough to reduce the need for streetlamps.

It’s exactly that kind of ingenuity that has helped the world’s most populous nation churn out new billionaires at a prodigious clip, according to John Mathews, head of ultra-high net worth in the Americas for UBS Group AG.