He’s Back: The Get-Rich-Quick King finds a new way to sell lunar plots

Anyone who’s been in China long enough may recall Li Jie, the entrepreneur who attempted to sell plots of land on the moon a few year’s back – a scheme that mirrored a similar one set up by American Dennis Hope in 1980.

Capitalizing on public interest in China’s then recent manned space missions, Li’s “Lunar Embassy” (a.k.a. The Beijing Lunar Village Aeronautics Science and Technology Co) had “sold 49 acres of lunar land to 34 Chinese clients within three days of opening on October 19, 2005” for the princely sum of RMB 298 an acre, according to AFP. But when the Ministry of Commerce got wind of the scheme after a deluge of domestic and international press attention, Li’s Lunar Embassy was promptly ordered to shut down.

Li appealed the ruling, but to no avail, and he quickly descended into a series of other get-rich-quick schemes including cups of “World Cup Air” and “extraterrestrial diamonds.” None of them panned out (surprise, surprise), and he was driven deeper into debt, losing his marriage, home and car in the process.

An article in the Beijing Youth Daily this week gives an update on Li’s life since then. It seems that after living for a couple of years living on borrowed money, our intrepid entrepreneur has poised himself for a comeback – this time selling “high-grade, double-layered, US-patented” umbrellas. Li has set up shop in a friend’s apartment on the East Third Ring Road, where he has begun yet another marketing campaign for his wares: Promotional materials show photographs of world leaders – including Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Prince Charles – toting his umbrellas, which sell for RMB 168 a piece. More importantly, Li’s line of umbrellas are embossed with the trademark “Lunar Embassy,” and include certificates for – you guessed it – “lunar land” and/or an “extraterrestrial diamond.”

Li may be a little loony, but when it comes to taking advantage of loopholes in Chinese business law, he’s no fool – quite clearly he’s found a new way to continue selling plots of lunar land. The anti-fraud law that was applied to his case in the 2005 ruling has since expired, and Li claims that while current government policy does not prohibit individuals from dealing with “outer space” commodities. No word yet on how sales are going so far, but as the saying goes – there’s a sucker born every minute …