It took me a long time to realize that the reticent third party is neither a spy from a secret agency nor a true friend's friend whom I might take a liking to, but a private businessman who, in some way, is beholden to my friend and is at the dinner to quietly pay the bill. He is the tuhao who willy-nilly plays a role that probably does not exist in any other society. Sometimes he will say things like how honored he is to be in our company. I just hope he can put it in his corporate expense account.

China's new rich are not unique in finding it difficult to adjust to their quick rise in affluence. They crave for respect, but often in unwise ways. The more they attempt to buy respect with money, the more they are ridiculed. But they are also victims of the overall culture. Many are driven to such flaunting out of necessity, because modesty is often perceived as a sign of business failure.

Even people with experience and good judgment are impressed with the parade of riches — if conducted in slightly ingenious ways. Unless you are famously well-heeled as Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, it is pretty hard to use frugality and providence as a marketing strategy. For society is structured like a pyramid in terms of aesthetic discrimination. Only a few well-grounded people will be able to resist crass, material indulgence while the majority will be swept up in a sea of envy and loathing for it — and for the tuhao who personifies it better than anyone else.

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