Pyramid Investigation Has Investors Protesting Near Heart of Beijing<br />By CHRIS BUCKLEY and AUSTIN RAMZYJULY 24, 2017<br />BEIJING — Many hundreds of Chinese investors who paid into what the police have called a pyramid investment scheme took to the streets of Beijing on Monday, not to denounce the business in which some had placed their life savings,<br />but to oppose the government investigation that threatened their earnings.<br />Mr. Zhang is such a fine man.”<br />But the government and the state news media have described the investment scheme as a dangerous swindle<br />that preys on the gullibility and generosity of people who like the idea of making money while helping others.<br />Many of the protesters waved Chinese flags, and some held banners appealing to the president, Xi Jinping, to overturn the crackdown on their investment scheme, called Shanxinhui,<br />and the recent arrest of its founder, Zhang Tianming.<br />I’ve helped 17 members of the group with the money I earned from this program.”<br />The protesters in Beijing carried banners that said Shanxinhui had been “persecuted”<br />and they called on President Xi, and his government to investigate their complaints.
