BEIJING: The appearance of a granddaughter of Mao Zedong, founding father of Communist China, on a list of the country’s richest citizens prompted online accusations of hypocrisy on Thursday.

Kong Dongmei, now in her early 40s, and husband Chen Dongsheng ranked 242nd with personal wealth estimated at five billion yuan ($815m) on a rich list released this month by New Fortune, a Chinese financial magazine. Kong is the granddaughter of Mao and his third wife He Zizhen. In 2001 she founded a book store in Beijing selling publications about Mao and promoting “Red Culture” after studying at the University of Pennsylvania in the US.

In 2011, Kong married Chen, who controls an insurance company, an auction house and a courier firm, after they had maintained an extramarital relationship for 15 years, according to the magazine, which cited other Chinese media reports.

The couple have two daughters and a son, said New Fortune — likely to be a violation of China’s one-child policy. Kong’s inclusion on the rich list triggered hot debate on China’s Twitter-like weibos, with some accusing her of betraying her grandfather’s status as the “great teacher of proletariat revolution”.—AFP