Tycoons should be wary of sensitive comments

"It is painful to earn (only) 2 billion yuan ($302 million) a month," sighed Jack Ma, president of Alibaba, China's e-commerce giant, at a gathering of entrepreneurs in Hangzhou, his hometown in Zhejiang province, last week.

Wang Jianlin, the billionaire president of Wanda Group, said something similar while explaining how to start a business in an interview during a recent TV program. Wang said: "Set a small and achievable target for yourself first, for instance, to earn 100 million yuan."

The heated public debate, including banters and jokes, which Ma's remark has sparked, is understandable, because despite entering the new era of the socialism with Chinese characteristics, as the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China declared, China has not been able to bridge the wealth gap.