Remember Peter Chung? Back in May 2001, Mr. Chung was a 24-year-old Princeton University grad posted to Seoul by the Carlyle Group and living, by his own account, quite large. A week and a half into his new buy-side job, he emailed home telling friends about his opulent digs, about riding around in the VP’s Porsche, about the bankers who treated him to rounds of golf, banqueted him, and took him clubbing”and about his intention to bed every hot woman in Korea: “5 down, 1,000,000,000 left to go,” he wrote.
Mr. Chung’s email circled the globe, eventually finding its way to his bosses at Carlyle, who promptly fired him.
The picture he painted is familiar to young people working at investment banks, private equity firms, or VCs almost anywhere in East Asia, Beijing included. China’s tech boom has given rise to a new class of moneyed elites”overwhelmingly young, single men in their late 20s and early 30s”for whom nightlife is an integral part of business.