China's richest man just gave Beijing a reality check
Real estate mogul Wang Jianlin told Sandy Li at the South China Morning Post that the country needs to accept lower growth and transform the economy.
"China needs to drop the fantasy of keeping a high growth rate of 7% or 8% and just accept 6%, 7% or even 5% percent," he said.
"China's economy needs to transform from relying on investment and exports to consumption. That's a painful process. If the transformation doesn't happen now, it would be even more painful in the future."
The Chinese government posted a second quarter growth that beat forecasts at 7.0%, though many analysts expressed reservations with the numbers.
Wang, founder of conglomerate Dalian Wanda, is worth an estimated $35.1 billion.
His son, Wang Sicong, also appeared recently in a BBC documentary, commenting on how the Chinese government controls all aspects of it's youths' lives and culture - and how deviance from the government norm would be "suicide."
Read the South China Morning Post article here.