Often imitated, never duplicated.

About 90 per cent of China's billionaires are the children of high-ranking officials. Princelings have fared far better in business than in politics, observed analyst Zhang Hua, who commented on the phenomenon in Hong Kong's Apple Daily in 2007. 'Not a single (princeling) family has been left behind,' he said sardonically. The various families have carved out territories in various industries. The family of former premier Li Peng, for example, controls the country's energy sector. His daughter Li Xiaolin is chairman of China Power International Development, an electricity monopoly. His son Li Xiaopeng used to head Huaneng Power, another energy heavyweight.

The family of former Chinese president Jiang Zemin has moved into telecommunications, while the offspring of former premier Zhu Rongji are strong figures in banking. His son Levin Zhu is the chief executive of China International Capital Corp. The princelings began staking out their dominions in the business world in the 1980s when China was opening up its economy. Armed with their fathers' connections, they were able to exploit the opportunities thrown up by China's economic transformation.By the 1980s, this economic revolution had led to much public disquiet, and when students staged protests at Tiananmen Square in 1989, much of their anger was initially directed at what they saw as rampant corruption by senior officials and their families.

Not surprising-- billionaires are minted at big sociopolitical dislocations. The opening and industrialization of China is one of the biggest in history.

Everyone talks about the Russian billionaire oligarchs who seized factories and entire industries for themselves. Perhaps they should lump the Chinese 'princelings' as well.

The difference? Maybe we don't hear about them because the Princelings don't buy prominent Western sports teams.

That's where a big void is happening in journalism now. It's the worst at the local level. I'm worried about locals. It's scary. It happens to be where the biggest crisis in journalism is happening. [Take the L.A. Times as an example.] They shut down their investigative journalism unit. They've closed bureaus all over the world. It's a travesty. We can go market by market. We want to increase the output and platforms on which stations create content in local communities, with a focus on accountability journalism.

Thank god someone is doing it.