China's richest man Jack Ma, NBA star Yao Ming and foreign guests were among 110 people recognised by the Communist Party on Tuesday for their "outstanding contributions" to the country's 40-year economic rise.
The dignitaries received medals from President Xi Jinping and other party leaders in a ceremony at Beijing's imposing Great Hall of the People to mark the anniversary of the launch of "reform and opening up". The group was put on the same pedestal as China's first female Nobel laureate, an astronaut, military officers, and deceased role models of the party.
State media revealed last month that Ma - the founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba and China's most famous capitalist - was a Communist Party member. He was joined onstage on Tuesday by fellow billionaires Pony Ma, who founded internet behemoth Tencent, and the chief executive of search engine Baidu, Robin Li, though neither have been identified as card-carrying party members.
Yao, the seven-foot-six (2.29-metre) retired center who played for the Houston Rockets, is now an entrepreneur and member of China's top political advisory group, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
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