Many use Jack Ma’s story as a vignette to frame Xi Jinping’s efforts to reign in unbridled capitalism. There is more to the story.

Jack Ma, whose last name means horse, started his career as a teacher. Later, he became one of the world’s wealthiest individuals from founding Alibaba. Many attribute Ma’s fall from Communist Party of China (CPC) grace to Xi Jinping’s efforts to put a bridle on commercial horsepower inside the PRC.

Especially two events deserve more attention to put Ma’s hobbling by the CPC in context.

1. Ma’s Alibaba resignation letter. In 2018, Ma’s resignation letter lists Alibaba’s ingredients for success. Each component contrasts with Communist Party of China operating patterns. Three examples illustrate Ma’s aggressive critique:

• Alibaba relies on systems, not a single individual.

• Alibaba deliberately nurtures and rewards individuals’ talents.

• Ma cites the problem of installing successors for an organization and chooses tapping younger talent as the “responsible” solution.

1. Potential investors oversubscribed an Alibaba subsidiary’s, Ant Financial, listing by an amount roughly equivalent to the PRC’s foreign currency reserves held at the People’s Bank of China.

Xi Jinping and the CPC suffer any criticism sensitively, but observing the raw horsepower of a commercial entity commanding massive financial resources in a short period of time terrifies Xi and the political party he leads.