Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Sunday, August 31, 2008

What does this photograph tell us about the political culture of the Peoples Republic?

The answer can be found at Liuzhou Laowai, the blog written by a British expatriate living and working in southern China.

At 7:25 AM, Ken Wedding said...: Don't take this too seriously. The Liuzhou blogger who posted the photo had cynical humor rather than political information in mind when he posted the picture.

Here's what he said in response to some questions:

Yes. They stop a speeder and remove the plates. This is supposed to render the car unusable till the fine is paid. Of course, it doesn't. You just go buy fake plates. If they are cheaper than the fine.

I've never seen them photographed like this before, though there is a regular television program which shows violators and publishes numbers.

"And the PLA is least likely to pay off the local constabulary at the spot of infraction?" Yes. The PLA is more likely to beat the cops withing an inch of their lives. I have witnessed this. The PLA rule! End of.

The PLA are officially exempt from many laws. They don't have to pay for parking. They don't pay toll fees. (In good old communist China, you have to pay to use roads. (Unless you are local to that city. Which is why removing plates hurts. The locals can't drive around their city any more without paying.) In addition to their legal exemptions, most assume that they are exempt from all laws, from traffic violations to blatant corruption. And they get away with it. Who is going to stop them? The local cops? Forget it. The all-powerful Communist Party can't control them. Quite the reverse.

The photo is just nonsense. Propaganda which no one believes.