Resistant to change
One of the ways in which neither the revolution nor Communism has changed China is the elitist nature of society. That's not to say that the rich and powerful are the only ones who do awful things, but the awful things they do make news.I can imagine the Maoist revolutionaries in 1936 or 1966 rousing the peasants and workers with stories of indiscretions by the rich and powerful. Might "revolutionaries" of 2011 try the same tactics?
Despite anti-corruption drive, scandals plague Communist leaders in China
If some of the headlines from the past few weeks in China were turned into a reality television show, the result might merit the title "Communist Officials and Rich Kids Behaving Badly."See also:
Extremely badly, in some cases, and with tragic consequences…
Such incidents have deeply embarrassed China's ruling Communist Party, which promotes itself on its Web site as the "faithful representative" of the Chinese people…
"These incidents weaken the government's credibility little by little," said Li Datong, a social commentator and former editor of the China Youth Daily's weekly supplement. "It's like a fire in a wood pile: A small incident can easily trigger a big mass incident during a time of social unrest. It's a very dangerous situation, which is why the government spends heavily to maintain social stability by paying large sums of hush money to the victims' families."
[I]n an apparent bid to stay ahead of the problem of vice in its ranks, the party issued its first white paper on corruption, saying graft remains "still very serious," despite the punishment of 113,000 officials in 2010 through November. It said the party would not cede the anticorruption fight to anyone…
Hu Xingdou, a professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology who researches social issues, said the string of incidents has made the party a "national laughingstock" and undercut the government's ongoing efforts to curb pornography and public indecency.
"The recent cases show Chinese officials' ethics and moral principles have nearly collapsed," Hu said. "Officials embezzling and keeping mistresses are the problems that people hate most. That's why people don't support or have any interest in responding to the government's anti-pornography campaign, because the officials themselves have more serious problems."
- China strives to prevent corruption at root: white paper
China has made vigorous efforts to promote institutional reforms and innovations to prevent and control corruption at the very source, according to a government white paper…
The white paper says China has been promoting the reform of the cadre and personnel system… - My daddy's more important than yours
- Earlier blog entries about corruption in China
Teaching Comparative blog entries are indexed.
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available at Amazon.com or from the publisher (where shipping is always free).
Labels: China, corruption, political culture
posted by Ken Wedding @ 5:43 AM
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