There was a story at FT China, 中国私募业的“红色贵族,” (“Chinese Private Equity’s ‘Red Aristocracy’”) which not only was blocked but also seems to have been removed from the site completely. The English version is still up and accessible here, “China: To the Money Born.” A copy of the Chinese can be found at GFWBlog. It covers how party officials’ sons are beginning to set up private equity funds, seeking to cash in on the spate of deals that are becoming available as formerly state owned firms undergo restructuring. That de facto Communist royalty is getting involved in mainland PE is unsurprising, everyone is. In fact, the group structure of many large firms here mean that even clothing retailers are getting involved with mutual funds and securities companies, approximately equivalent to the Gap Capital Management (ah China). Still, these individuals are high profile, though someone apparently doesn’t want to much attention being focused on them at this juncture. From the article:

“Private equity is a very good area for princelings because with these sorts of connections you can get into companies ahead of their IPOs and make a lot of money in a short space of time,” says Professor Victor Shih of Northwestern University. “It is an easy way to make money because everyone will be willing to back them because of their connections. Everyone will do it willingly in order to potentially get favours from senior leaders in return.”

… But the constant jockeying for position within the party behind closed doors in Beijing is set to intensify as the next big leadership transition approaches in 2012. Some analysts say the private equity activities of the more aggressive younger princelings could be used by political enemies as a weapon against their parents.

One could argue in defense of this sort of nepotism, since private equity is as relationship driven as anything is here, and these guys, quite reasonably from their perspective, see the most opportunity there. The articles are more interesting as an example of exactly what is blocked. Since the Chinese version isn’t available, even behind a VPN, it means that the FT removed it, potentially after a suggestion from the Ministry of Truth.

Normally, journalism that focuses on economic/financial topics can get away with more in terms of potentially sensitive topics. Magazines like Caijing built their reputations on pushing these boundaries. At times, though, someone hits a soft spot.