Forbes China on Wednesday denied it had released a chart depicting Chinese mainland’s average household income for 2021. Meanwhile, a chart went viral on Chinese social media that contains elevated numbers of family incomes.
Families in Shanghai city topped the chart with average yearly income of 825,000 yuan ($128,416.70). Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in South China’s Guangdong Province, and Hangzhou in East China’s Zhejiang Province, ranked second to fifth with 802,000 yuan, 741,000 yuan, 646,000 yuan and 619,000 yuan of average annual incomes, respectively.
Most netizens on Sina Weibo thought the numbers on the chart were “too high” and did not reflect the reality for many ordinary Chinese households.
Forbes China announced Tuesday in a statement that they had never made or released such a chart, adding that any Forbes certified charts would be published on the Forbes magazine or through its official website and social media accounts.
Forbes China also vowed to take legal procedures to defend itself.
And, many netizens have detected some obvious flaws with the chart. Sina Weibo netizen named “Meizi Fantuanjiang” suggested that it was premature to release such data for this year.
“A parent would have to earn 300,000 yuan a year to meet the reported 601,000 yuan of average household income in Wuhan city, which looks surreal now,” said netizen named “Binghai Yeguiren.”
Forbes Photo:VCG
