Over the past half-century, China has conjured vast wealth out of widespread poverty.
Now comes the vexing part: how to pass it on to the next generation.
For China, this poses a new and underappreciated risk.
On its current trajectory, the first great intergenerational transfer in China's modern history
will widen inequality, cement privilege and breed resentment.
The government, devoted to "common prosperity", is shockingly insouciant about what that will mean.
In 1978, on the eve of China's economic take-off,
the average household's assets were worth barely $1,500 in today's money.
Now, that figure has reached about $170,000, a hundred-fold real increase.
Alas, the fruits are uneven.
The richest 10% of the population now own nearly 70% of China's total private wealth,
roughly equal with America and well above most advanced economies,
according to the World Inequality Database.
And the richest 10% are, like most of China, rapidly ageing.
Their heirs are in line for windfalls.
Across the rich world, increasing hereditary wealth is creating a class
more inclined to search out tax loopholes than to strive or innovate.
China will have those problems and more.
First, its inheritocracy is brand new.
It was only in the 1990s, when China allowed homeownership,