It was the spring of 1949, and Rong Yiren had reason to worry. Reportedly one of China’s 10 richest individuals, he hid with his wife and five children in a downstairs corridor of his mansion as the People’s Liberation Army swept through Shanghai and claimed it for the Chinese Communist Party. As a scion of China’s wealthiest industrial dynasty, Rong was at the mercy of Mao Zedong’s new regime, which promised to end capitalism.
But as the sun rose on May 25, the 33-year-old found himself and his young family unscathed. Curious, he slipped behind the wheel of his sports car and cruised the tree-lined streets in the upscale Xuhui district. After a violent civil war had roiled China for four years, Rong felt relieved to see well-behaved troops who weren’t harassing or looting local residents.
He was even more relieved when, a few days later, the city’s new mayor, Chen Yi, invited him to a business forum. Shanghai was home to half of the nation’s private industry at th
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