[The Age | Text-only index]     Money to burn, but no idea about
an elegant sufficiency  Date: January 05 2013  John Garnaut
GUIYANG, China: Pu Ling, a painter in China's poorest and least
egalitarian province, is taking on the ultimate artistic
challenge. He is refashioning the most unsightly of all Chinese
archetypes - the provincial billionaire coal boss - into an
exemplar of sophistication and good taste.  Step one is to bring
the coal baron from the grimy mining town of Liupanshui to his
English-style pub with Byzantine light fixtures, Chinese wood
panelling and a Russian rock band called Evil.  The rich and
glamorous of Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province, believe Pu
Bar to be the most desirable destination in the hinterland of
south-west China.  ''This bar is about culture,'' says Zhou
Zhou, a young and elegant aspiring businesswoman. ''The guests
here often come with high personal quality and high income.''
Step two is to ban drugs, prostitutes and Chinese liquor while
dissuading the get-rich-with-