Chinese Lose Confidence in Meritocracy as Path to Greater Wealth

Chinese people are blaming inequality in the economic system for diminishing their chances at amassing wealth, as urgency builds for Beijing to revive confidence at a key policy meeting.

Connections and growing up in a rich family were now seen as the top predictors of wealth in a survey of thousands of Chinese citizens published Tuesday by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. That’s a dramatic shift from the decade prior to 2015 when ability and talent was the most popular response.