Wade Wu Blue Group 1249604
BRIEF
"Choose one thing, object, word, term – whatever you wish. The more specific, the more you can zoom in and go into details, the better. Observe it, analyse it, take it to pieces, deconstruct it. Include and mention every detail that, in your opinion, makes it complete. Look at it from perspectives you haven’t considered before, discover it in different ways. Work specifically, accurately and keep very much to the point." You will need to choose your 'thing' over this coming week and start the research described above and below. It is crucial that you don't get stuck on trying to decide on the 'perfect' thing so that at our first class, you still don't know. This project, as with much design is about what you do with an object or idea, about looking sideways, seeing things from unexpected angles and making the ordinary extraordinary. This will mean approaching your investigation from a wide range of perspectives. ZOOMING OUT 1. If your chosen thing is an object, photograph it from all angles. 2. If your chosen thing is an object, describe it using words only. 3. If a word or term, get its definitions. 4. Primary research: find out what others think about it (interview). Ask an expert. 5. Secondary research: look up its history. 6. Watch a film or doco featuring the 'thing'. 7. Investigate any the 'myths' / folklore around the thing. 8. Other ways…? ZOOMING IN 1. If it is an object, take it apart and examine the inner workings. Then put it together (and examine this process). 2. If a word or term, look up the etymology of the word / term (its historical origins). Go further back to see where the historical origins reach back into. How and where were these recorded? What other words were derived from this word / the term? 3. Whatever it is (whether a word / term or an object,) draw it from all angles.
IDEAS
Corruption
The practice of examining the term “corruption” will be contextualized and influenced by my Chinese origin. The actual design will based on the founding that I will eventually have from these different perspectives: • Linguistic point of view • Objective point of view • Authorities’ point of view • Citizens’ point of view I wish the outcome of this publication can give people great impression about the level of corruption in China and also corruption effect ordinary lifes.
RELATED WORDS
author writer book writing authors power books police boss literature government artist authorities fanfiction poet gay leader sex write poetry politics democracy republican governator obama democrat bush money liberal president america communism anarchy conservative congress taxes usa stupid corruption politician corrupt politics government evil greed corrupted democrat police politician lies stupid crime liar money republican america democracy obama bribery fraud cash rich sex dough dollars paper dollar currency poor drugs jew bank weed broke bills green bitches bitch bread whore bagman corruptionists criminalist expolatition lobbyer lobbyist broke rich ghetto cheap money ugly bad poverty shit homeless dirty black stupid crap lame welfare white trash gay loser nigger money wealthy poor preppy white spoiled bitch cool hot prep snobby snob sexy wealth awesome smart cash ghetto school broke
Authority
Government
Corruption
Corruptionist Poor
Rich
China
Communism
Bank
Money
chinese asian japan asia korea chink india taiwan sex beijing communism food japanese america rice communist hong kong shanghai shit vagina Community communication socialism communicate communist capitalism socialist Obama internet communications marxism texting text college stalin russia email talk facebook fascism money banks banking cash atm sex banked wank banker finance tyra account dough dollars rich hot broke federal reserve ass government cash rich sex dough dollars paper dollar currency poor drugs jew bank weed broke bills green bitches bitch bread whore
LINGUISTIC
POINT OF
VIEW
DEFINITIONS AU·THOR·I·TY [uh-thawr-i-tee, uh-thor-] noun, plural au·thor·i·ties.
author writer book writing authors power books police boss literature government artist authorities fanfiction poet gay leader sex write poetry
1. the power to determine, adjudicate, or otherwise settle issues or disputes; jurisdiction; the right to control, command, or determine. 2. a power or right delegated or given; authorization: Who has the authority to grant permission? 3. a person or body of persons in whom authority is vested, as a governmental agency. 4. Usually, authorities. persons having the legal power to make and enforce the law; government: They finally persuaded the authorities that they were not involved in espionage. 5. an accepted source of information, advice, etc.
Apple Dictionary
1. the power or right to control, judge, or prohibit the actions of others 2. ( often plural ) a person or group of people having this power, such as a government, police force, etc 3. a position that commands such a power or right (often in the phrase in authority ) 4. such a power or right delegated, esp from one person to another; authorization: she has his authority 5. the ability to influence or control others: a man of authority 6. an expert or an authoritative written work in a particular field: he is an authority on Ming china 7. evidence or testimony: we have it on his authority that she is dead 8. confidence resulting from great expertise: the violinist lacked authority in his cadenza 9. ( capital when part of a name ) a public board or corporation exercising governmental authority in administering some enterprise: Independent Broadcasting Authority 10. law a. a judicial decision, statute, or rule of law that establishes a principle; precedent b. legal permission granted to a person to perform a specified act [C14: from French autoritĂŠ, from Latin auctĹ?ritas, from auctor author ]
World English Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
The man who wants to keep you down Damn the man! Save the empire! - Ghandi A position of power over people. Most people critize authority until they eventially come into power. Then they complain when they are critized. Hypocrites. “It’s okay to fight everyone else’s authority...Except mine!” - Achluo
to corrupt
What you must respect. “Respect My Authority!!” - Eddie J. Ambiguous group with unknown special powers or knowledge that someone refers to for the purpose of intimidation. I am going to call the Authorities... - Juls Taylor Something that is widely misunderstood by many ignorant teenagers, dumb skaters, and clueless punks. Knowledge is power, and the authorities of our time have that power, so instead of being morons who have good intentions but don’t know a fucking thing about the polotics behind authority, lets all actually go pick up a book, or become and activist and TAKE DOWN THE FUCKING SYSTEM. All of these cockfucks posting about how we “need authority” are bullshitters and close minded dickheads at best. The only thing we “need” in this world is common sense, and therefore authority won’t have to provide us with it. Wake up people, and stop being a dickless puppet of the system that many of you claim to “hate”. The authorites and powers that be have seen it fit to convict innocent marijuana smokers, concious objectors, and activists of crimes and therefore put them in a little manmade thing called prison. Authority is mostly a byproduct of greed and facism. - Fightforyour rights The worst position a legal aldult could have. The authority is always beating down on me! All authority expect too much from me. Man, screw them! - Muhahahanafawnabanana
DEFINITIONS GOVERNMENT noun
politics democracy republican governator obama democrat bush money liberal president america communism anarchy conservative congress taxes usa stupid corruption politician
Apple Dictionary
1 [ treated as sing. or pl. ] the group of people with the authority to govern a country or state; a particular ministry in office: the government’s economic record | successive Labour governments. • [ mass noun ] the system by which a state or community is governed: a democratic form of government. • [ mass noun ] the action or manner of controlling or regulating a state, organization, or people: rules for the government of the infirmary. 2 Grammar the relation between a governed and a governing word.
Urban Dictionary
Government is like a condom in that it allows for inflation, halts production, destroys subsequent generations, protects a bunch of pricks, and provides its constituents with a sense of security while they are actually being screwed. ... too many to list. Oh yea, government. by scarlit January 16, 2008 A money-driven conspiracy of liars, cheaters, and conartists claiming to control all morality. They assume that they know everything, including the difference between right and wrong, but to not realize how hypocritical they truly are. They will create their own destruction, while their victims sit and watch them fall. Fuck the government! by T3h B0y December 21, 2003 Something that everyone would be better off if there was less of. Don’t you just love how the government takes your money and dumps it into the toilet? by The DON October 16, 2002 Something which always has too many flaws and is never perfect What would happen under certain governments; Communism: You have two cows. The governemt takes away both, gives you a small share of the proceeds and shares the rest out with the population. Socialism: You have two cows. The government takes away just one and shares it out between themselves and the population Liberalism: You have two cows. The government taxes you slightly on the sale of them Conservatism: You have two cows. You are taxed almost zero on the sale of them, but the agricultural business will be subject to a recession pretty
soon anyway Fascism: You have two cows. The government takes away both and shoots you by zutroy September 26, 2004
DEFINITIONS CORRUPTION noun [ mass noun ]
bagman corruptionists criminalist expolatition lobbyer lobbyist corrupt politics government evil greed corrupted democrat police politician lies stupid crime liar money republican america democracy obama bribery fraud cash rich sex dough dollars paper dollar currency poor drugs jew bank weed broke bills green bitches bitch bread whore
1 dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery: the journalist who wants to expose corruption in high places. • the action or effect of making someone or something morally depraved. the corruption of youth was a powerful motif. the word ‘addict’ conjures up evil and corruption. 2 the process by which a word or expression is changed from its original state to one regarded as erroneous or debased: a record of a word’s corruption | [ count noun ] : the term ‘hobgoblin’ is thought to be a corruption of ‘Robgoblin’. • the process by which a computer database or program becomes debased by alteration or the introduction of errors. this procedure creates a temporary file to prevent accidental corruption. 3 archaic the process of decay; putrefaction. the potato turned black and rotten with corruption.
Apple Dictionary
ORIGIN Middle English: via Old French from Latin corruptio(n-), from corrumpere ‘mar, bribe, destroy’ (see corrupt) .
Police and the law enforcment Fine for making us search you, revealing you had nothing illegal on you... Nigger, please! Corruption! BRUTALITY - Tom ‘Lanky’ B. Corruption = The Congress Party in India Me: Look at all this corruption! Congress party worker : That’s our gift to this country. Me: Who votes for you Swiss bank money stashing, corrupt bastards? Congress party worker: the uneducated, the overtly secular morally coward, Muslims and about any other person who’s ashamed of being an Indian. Me: You bastards!! Congress party worker: Kalyug, beta. Just accept us. - Anna Hazare123
Urban Dictionary
DEFINITIONS CHINA noun [ mass noun ]
chinese asian japan asia korea chink india taiwan sex beijing communism food japanese america rice communist hong kong shanghai shit vagina
China A country in East Asia, the third largest and most populous in the world; pop. 1,338,613,000 (est. 2009); language, Chinese (of which Mandarin is the official form); capital, Beijing. Official name People’s Republic of China. Chinese civilization stretches back until at least the 3rd millennium bc, the country being ruled by a series of dynasties until the Qing (or Manchu) dynasty was overthrown by Sun Yat-sen in 1911; China was proclaimed a republic the following year. After the Second World War the Kuomintang government of Chiang Kai-shek was overthrown by the communists under Mao Zedong, the People’s Republic of China being declared in 1949. Market-oriented reforms were introduced in the last quarter of the twentieth century.
China A country that is so old and complex that the average American could not write an accurate definition for it if they tried (and we do) Maybe I’ll write a definition for China...wait, i have no clue what really goes down in China. by D.E. Fresh October 05, 2005 The land of 1,000 KFCs. KFC is so popular in China, that even McDonald’s sells Kentucky Fried Chicken. by Ookpick GooseFrubba August 16, 2005 A leading civilization where everything is made because of low wages (due to overpopulation hence unemployment) combined with high craftsmanship thus the reason why every major company invests in china as opposed to africa and india Influenced basically all Asian countries: Japanese/Korean writing all have chinese characters, chopsticks used by Japan and Korea, many asians celebrates Chinese New Year (Lunar new year) Chinese invented: gunpowder/fireworks,the first printing press, seismograph, decimal system, compass, writing, the first modern paper, spaghetti, iron casting, clock, first calculator(abacus), silk, umbrella, stirrup, kites(military communication) etc etc etc Printing press came from China, but the westerners neglect that fact
Apple Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
because the printing press only printed Chinese characters The British wanted Chinese inventions, thus killing many Chinese/forcing them to take opium in exchange for items (Opium War) When western medicines failed to save my aunt, Chinese medicine revived her The americans are afraid that China will outpace the rest of the world again China, the only asian country that has yet to be annexed entirely Those asshole keep dissing Chinese, but they are the ones rocking made in China versace and driving in China manufactured Cadillac Even original buildings in Japan and Korean looks like Chinese infrastructures The Japanese writes Japan in Chinese by shitastic January 23, 2005 One of the oldest countries in the world, it has a rich cultural history extending back roughly 5 or 6 millenia. The Xia dynasty were the first real royal line, overthrown by the Shang dynasty, who were, in turn, ousted in a revolution by the Zhou (pronounced ‘show’). Gradually, China expanded, and with the discovery of tea, a rich cultre developed. It fostered the development of the Daoist religion as well as Confucianism, named after its founder. Once invaded by Mongolia, China found true prosperity under the wise rule of Kublai Khan. By the 1800s, China was probably the most advanced nation on the planet, with public libraries, schools and plentiful resources. However, after the population boom and following colonial conquests, China lost its Emperor in 1919. A nationalist leadership was set up, lasting through WW2 until, in 1949, Mao Tse-Tung overthrew it, creating the communist dictatorship we all know today. China is responsible for such wonders as the Terracotta Army and the birth of Confucianism. by Bob Johnson May 20, 2004 A country with the combination of communist political structure mixed with a capitalist economy. It’s fair to say that China is neither red(communist) or white(capitalist) but a combination of both; therefore pink. by s0x0r August 09, 2005
DEFINITIONS COMMUNISM noun [ mass noun ]
Community communication socialism communicate communist capitalism socialist Obama internet communications marxism texting text college stalin russia email talk facebook fascism
Apple Dictionary
A theory or system of social organization in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs. See also Marxism. The most familiar form of communism is that established by the Bolsheviks after the Russian Revolution of 1917, and it has generally been understood in terms of the system practised by the former Soviet Union and its allies in eastern Europe, in China since 1949, and in some developing countries such as Cuba, Vietnam, and North Korea. In this form of communism it was held that the state would wither away after the overthrow of the capitalist system. In practice, however, the state grew to control all aspects of communist society. Communism in eastern Europe collapsed in the late 1980s and early 1990s against a background of failure to meet people’s economic expectations, a shift to more democracy in political life, and increasing nationalism such as that which led to the break-up of the Soviet Union.
Urban Dictionary
Communism is the final stage of the political reform started witha revolution, according to Marx. First masses of workers will rebel in a industrialezed country; they will implant a socialist government in order to adapt the country for later changes. After private property is banished, and the people possess everything, thenthere will be no need for government, thus the state will be destroyed, to form a society with no social classes. It important to remember that Marx knew that the mentality of man needed to change in order of this to work. He believe in the concept of the “new man� who was humble and just. It is also important to remeber did not believe in a country alone with this structure, but he believed that the whole world adapt to this change. Given this, it is safe to say that no country has ever achieved communism, and anyone who has a sense of equality do agree with this utopia. No, Russia was not communist, neither is Cuba. by cako May 14, 2004
A nice idea (Everyone is equal, everything is shared) but one that falls to bits when greedy humans get in the way. True communism has never been achieved on any significant scale in known history. by KHD January 10, 2005 Communism is a socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general. “The theory of Communism may be summed up in one sentence: Abolish all private property.” - Karl Marx by Paul Wall Da People’s Champ November 15, 2009 Something that, in theory, is a good idea. Communism is an ideal that believes that everyone should share everything, so that poverty wouldn’t exist, and there wouldn’t be a gap between richer and poorer classes. The problem is, communist governments become corrupt, because people are greedy, so it doesn’t work. Person One: Why’s that country so messed up? Person Two: They just got rid of communism, and are now trying to put their country back together. by More Awesome Than Thou December 02, 2005 Needs Less Stalin, needs less greed for it to work properly. Also means communal ownership of everything. Damnit, I feel like I could sure use some Communism right now. by Templar895 October 08, 2005 An economic system the claims to support workers, yet oddly enough all the workers seem to get shot or starve under the system. Usually advocated by people who don’t actually live in Communist countries and have never taken an economic class before. Despite the fact that there are communist countries in the world,they don’t bother moving to one. He was shot because he didn’t let the communists “redistribute” his land so they could let the people “share” it. by SomeoneElsePW May 29, 2005
DEFINITIONS MONEY noun [ mass noun ]
cash rich sex dough dollars paper dollar currency poor drugs jew bank weed broke bills green bitches bitch bread whore
A current medium of exchange in the form of coins and banknotes; coins and banknotes collectively: I counted the money before putting it in my wallet | he borrowed money to modernize the shop. • (moneys or monies) formal sums of money: a statement of all moneys paid into and out of the account. • the assets, property, and resources owned by someone or something; wealth: the college is very short of money. • financial gain: the main aim of a commercial organization is to make money. • payment for work; wages: she accepted the job at the bank since the money was better.
Apple Dictionary
Paper and coinage that can be used to exchange for goods and services. More of it equals power and chicks. “My money got me a wife honey.” by CrazyMike February 10, 2003
Urban Dictionary
The root of all evil. Money; Cant live with it, cant live without it. by *Dee* June 06, 2006 An awesome song by Pink Floyd The song “Money” is on Dark Side of the Moon by A Floydian January 09, 2004 The only thing very hardly ever refused by anyone. John: Here is proof of fifty thousand dollars buried beneath these shark infested waters. Rex: We have to find a way of dealing with these sharks so we can get to the money. John: Ok. here is plan A. We will... by Nartey April 12, 2007
LYRICS Money, get away Get a good job with good pay and you’re okay Money, it’s a gas Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash New car, caviar, four star daydream Think I’ll buy me a football team
Pink Floyd – Money
Money, get back I’m all right Jack keep your hands off of my stack Money, it’s a hit Don’t give me that do goody good bullshit I’m in the high-fidelity first class traveling set And I think I need a Lear jet Money, it’s a crime Share it fairly but don’t take a slice of my pie Money, so they say Is the root of all evil today But if you ask for a raise it’s no surprise That they’re giving none away Away, away, away Away, away, away
From the drip drip drip of the teardrops To the chink chink chink of the cash To the end end end of the friendships To the wack wack wack of the bash Corruption corruption corruption Rules my soul Corruption corruption corruption Rules my soul From the tick tick tick of your time's up To the yes yes yes of 'I'll sell' From the fact fact fact of the soulless To the pact pact pact with hell Corruption corruption corruption Rules my soul Corruption corruption corruption Chills my bones Corruption corruption corruption
Iggy Pop – Corruption
Rules my soul Corruption corruption corruption Chills my bones From the scream scream scream of the babies To the retch retch retch of the youth From the lie lie lie of the righteous To the lost lost lost way I feel Corruption corruption corruption Rules my bones Corruption corruption corruption Chills my bones Corruption corruption corruption Rules my soul Corruption corruption corruption Rules my soul Corruption Corruption Order in the court Decision to abort The monkey wants to speak So speak, monkey speak Speak monkey, speak Speak monkey, speak Speak monkey, speak Everything leads to corruption Everything leads to corruption Corruption
Kinks – Money Corruption
Then they laugh behind our backs.
We are sick and tired Of being promised this and that. We work all day, we sweat and slave To keep the wealthy fat. They fill our heads with promises And bamboozle us with facts, Then they put on false sincerity
[Chorus:] Money and corruption Are ruining the land Crooked politicians Betray the working man, Pocketing the profits And treating us like sheep, And we're tired of hearing promises That we know they'll never keep. [Chorus] Promises, promises, all we get are promises. Show us a man who'll understand us, guide us and lead us. We are sick and tired Of having to ask them cap in hand We crawl on the floor We beg for more, But still we are ignored. We're tired of being herded Like a mindless flock of sheep And we're tired of hearing promises That we know they'll never keep. [Chorus] We've got to stand together Every woman, every man, Because money and corruption are ruining the land. Show us a man who'll be our Savior and will lead us. Show us a man who'll understand us, guide us and lead us. Show us a man. Workers of the nation unite. Workers of the nation unite. I visualize a day when people will be free And we'll be living in a new society. No class distinction, no slums or poverty I have a vision of a new society. And every home will have a stereo and TV, A deep freeze, quadrasonic and a washing machine. So workers of the nation unite. I am your man I'll work out a five-year plan So vote for me brothers
And I will save this land And we will nationalize the wealthy companies And all the directors will be answerable to me, There'll be no shirking of responsibilities So people of the nation unite. Union man I'll work with you hand in hand For we're all brothers to our union man. I am your man, Oh God how I love this land, So join together save the fatherland. I visualize a day when people will be free And we'll be living in a new society. No class distinction, no slums or poverty, So workers of the nation unite, Workers of the nation unite, People of the nation unite
Ivy Levan – Money
[Verse 1] They say that I shot a man down For not picking up the check What they don't know it won't hurt them So keep moving down the line Just cause I like my diamonds bright Ain't saying I'm wrong or if it's right But baby I haven't been wrong before [Chorus] Cash is everything I need so show me the money! Cash is everything I need so give it to me honey! Oh what you see... is what you get! And you ain't see... nothing yet! [Verse 2] They say that I broke a man down For not giving me respect
Should've spent more cause worth it I just ain't got the time You better choose your battles right Shoot when you see whites' others' eyes Oh baby I wish you had the dough But you don't [Chorus] [Bridge] Daddy ain't got no cash. Daddy go six foot deep Daddy ain't got no green. Daddy got to go to sleep. Daddy ain't got no cash. Daddy ought to go six deep Daddy ain't got no green. Daddy got to go to sleep. [Chorus](2x)
You know the best things in live are free You can give it to the bears and bees I want some money Yeah yeah I want some money Yeah yeah You all give me such a thrill But your loving can't pay no bill's I want some money Yeah I want some money Yeah yeah One time You all give me such a thrill But your loving can't pay my bill's I want some money Yeah I want some money
Doors – Money
Yeah alright I want some money Give me some money More money babe I want some money Yeah yeah One more time I want some money More money babe Money I like some money I want some money Alright
OBJECTIVES
POLITICAL CONTEXT Government’s attitudes
In China, nowadays, there exists a social atmosphere of hatred toward the officials and the children of officials (so-called "guanerdai")… the number of similar violent movements targeting local governments and officials is greatly increasing, according to the statistics. The government is under pressure to take measures to repair its image and improve its relationship with ordinary citizens. The conviction of former Politburo member Bo Xilai on corruption charges has revealed to the world how corrupt some high-ranking Chinese officials are and how complicated Chinese domestic politics is. At the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI)… President Xi Jinping reiterated his strong resolve to fight corruption. At the CCDI… As the party leader, Xi pledged that the new government would be determined to punish both the “tigers and flies” (senior- and lower-ranking corrupt officials). Immediately after he took office in March 2013, the anti-corruption campaign was initiated as promised. Since then, many corrupt officials have been investigated and prosecuted… The discipline agency punished 182,000 officials nationwide in 2013, 13.3 percent more than in 2012. In particular, 31 big “tigers” were investigated and eight of them have been already prosecuted, including some officials at the ministerial and provincial levels. The anti-corruption movement has gone beyond people’s expectations. In the past, the Chinese government has promised to fight corruption many times, but always ended up without substantial action due to powerful vested interest groups.
When Xi first vowed to fight corruption, people were doubtful… Chi- Public Reaction nese people were both happy and surprised to see so many “tigers and flies” being arrested in the past year. The party elites are never in one united group, but in different competing factions. Surrounding the Bo case, there have been a lot of political calculations and balancing among different factions. The political struggle is far from ending soon. The ongoing anti-corruption movement is inevitably intertwined with domestic political struggles, as shown by the Zhou investigation. This fact makes the campaign a little controversial. Xi is said to be the least charismatic president in the history of the People’s Republic of China. Compared to his predecessors, Xi has the weakest amount of power, as the leadership system has been gradually decentralized. The politics of the CCP has had the tradition of strengthening and uniting the power through certain kinds of movements as demonstrated by Mao. It can’t be ruled out that Xi is trying to build his authority in the party through such a movement. Anyway, for ordinary people, the strong-armed posture on corruption is more than welcomed. Indeed, if party leaders don’t try to tackle the problem seriously, their rule might be challenged. If the corruption problem continues to be worsening, not only the Chinese people, but also the government officials themselves, will lose confidence in the current national system. In that sense, the anti-corruption campaign is a prescription of “strong drugs” in time. People might still remember former Premier Zhu Rongji, who swore
Why the new leadership started the anti-corruption campaign & Why Xi is so determined to keep a firm stance on the fight against corruption, particularly among high-ranking officials. 1. First, the CCP leaders have reached a consensus that notorious corruption had endangered the survival of the party and weakened the legitimacy of its rule… Many corruption scandals involving governmental officials were disclosed in cyberspace in recent years… Xi has described the corruption problem as “a disease that calls for strong drugs.” 2. Secondly, although people have become used to government corruption, with the expanding gap between the rich and the poor, social restlessness is on the rise. As a result, the confrontation between officials and ordinary citizens is deepening. 3. Thirdly, one important background of the anti-corruption campaign is the intensifying power struggle among top party rulers. 4. Fourthly, for Xi, he might also need such a movement to strengthen his leadership in the party.
VOICES / OPINIONS "…We must uphold the fighting of tigers and flies at the same time, resolutely investigating law-breaking cases of leading officials and also earnestly resolving the unhealthy tendencies and corruption problems which happen all around people …"
Authority Figure's perspective
"… if we don't redress unhealthy tendencies and allow them to develop, it will be like putting up a wall between our party and the people, and we will lose our roots, our lifeblood and our strength …"
Deng Xiaogang, an academic and expert on corruption, said: "The party realises the impact [of abuses of power] on their legitimacy and maintaining their rule." Deng, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, said China's leders had warned more than two decades ago that corruption threatened Communist rule. Since then the scale had vastly increased, while economic uncertainty and social concerns had given the party "a sense of urgency about the need to do something". But Deng said powerful interest groups could block the changes needed. Many in China say the problem cannot be rooted out unless the party undertakes fundamental political reforms, such as the development of an independent judiciary and media. Wu Qiang, a scholar at Tsinghua University in Beijing. said anti-corruption [campaigns] were used to conceal political struggles inside the ruling Communist party, and such struggles were becoming fiercer. He said the government was seeking to strictly control officials while limiting anti-corruption voices outside the party, releasing news of its achievements to help ease public anger. Wu described the campaign as a populist policy, saying the public response was likely to affect how long it lasted and how deep it went. The current drive would calm down "when it reaches a balancing point – which means when the central government needs to implement other policies, and depending on how local officials follow the orders", he said.
Intellectuals' Perspective
DATA / NUMBERS China Corruption Perceptions Index 2003 score: 3.4 (66th out of 133 countries) Bribe Payers Index 2002 score: 3.5 (20th out of 21 countries) Conventions: UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (ratified September 2003) Legal and institutional changes • In June 2002 the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) passed the Government Procurement Act, which came into force in January 2003. The law regulates public procurement and includes guidelines for preventing corruption (see below). • In December 2002 amendments to the criminal code were ratified. One of the provisions stipulates that abuse of authority and dereliction of duty by judicial officials are subject to a criminal penalty of up to 10 years’ imprisonment (see below). • • In 2002–03 a pilot scheme for political reform began in Shenzhen municipality, involving the separation of the powers of policymaking, enforcement and supervision – a radical departure from the current political model (see below). • • China’s new leadership, which came to office in March 2003 under President Hu Jintao, called for an acceleration of the country’s anti-corruption drive. One of its first measures was a new focus on monitoring provincial-level officials through the dispatch by the Communist Party’s Central Commission of Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of 45 inspectors to visit all the country’s provinces. The inspectors are expected to finish their monitoring programme within four years. The decision should be viewed in the context of criticisms made of the CCDI for failures to tackle corruption effectively. • • In August 2003 a law on administrative licensing was passed by the NPC standing committee. The new law, which takes effect from July 2004, will streamline and introduce transparency into the system of administrative permits. Until now official authority to issue licences for everything from marriage to establishing a business has provided a lucrative source of corruption to supplement meagre wages. Those seeking licences have often paid serial bribes to obtain approval from different authorities. The new law seeks to tackle the problem by introducing one-stop application procedures. The new rules also require licence applications to be filed in writing in order to avoid face-to-face contact with officials, hopefully lessening the incidence of ‘improper fee collection’. Reforms to combat widespread judicial corruption Many of China’s most senior leaders admit that corruption is rife in
GLOBAL CORRUPTION REPORT 2004: POLITICAL CORRUPTION
the country’s judicial and law enforcement systems, in spite of a major crackdown on illegal practices and a series of recent reforms. In November 2002, Liu Liying, former deputy secretary general of the CCDI, highlighted judicial corruption as one of the key concerns.1 Offences by judges and court officials include abuse of power in lawsuit proceedings, intentional errors of judgment, forging court papers and accepting bribes. In an effort to improve practices, recent reforms have included the introduction of open trials; more restrictive requirements on evidence; the separation of trials from enforcement and monitoring; and the monitoring and evaluation of judges. The reform programme includes harsher responses to judicial corruption. In December 2002 the NPC standing committee passed amendments to the Criminal Code (IV), which will punish the abuse of authority by court officials with up to 10 years’ imprisonment. As a consequence of the crackdown, 24,886 court employees were arraigned or prosecuted in 2002, or 2 per cent of the country’s judicial staff.2 Those investigated for allegations of corruption included two provincial chief justices. In the last two years a number of prominent officials in the legal system have been found guilty of taking bribes, including Li Jizhou, former deputy minister of public security. The government is also trying to improve judges’ professionalism. Previously, there were no specific requirements for members of the judiciary, who typically hold prominent political positions since the institution is not independent. In March 2002 – for the first time – lawyers, judges and procurators faced a professional examination. Training is also being strengthened. In July 2002 the supreme people’s procuratorate cooperated with the World Bank and Tsinghua University to run anti-corruption courses for procurators. ...
More open public procurement, under international pressure Preparations for the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing and Expo 2010 in Shanghai – as well as major development programmes such as ‘Developing Western China’ – have focused attention on the widespread corruption in public procurement and have motivated a series of reform measures. According to a survey by the anti-corruption authorities of Licheng district in Jinan (Shandong province) in 2002, more than 70 per cent of cases involved bribery, 44 per cent of them in public procurement. The highest occurrence was in construction, which accounted for 63 per cent of all bribery cases. In recent years the authorities have taken steps to reform contracting procedures in order to improve efficiency and curb corruption. Experiments with open bidding began in Shanghai in 1996 and spread rapidly to other cities, with a growing proportion of bidding carried out by Internet. In 2000 open bidding was introduced into state-funded engineering projects, when the Invitation and Submission of Bids Law came into effect. Most notably, the NPC passed a government procurement act in June 2002, along with a series of other new regulations. The new law standardises rules across the country and at all levels of government, and aims to increase transparency in public contracting. So-called ‘construction markets’ (Jianzhu Youxing Shichang) have been introduced in most big cities with the aim of regulating bidding in construction projects and curbing under-the-table deals. Under the new system, contractors have to win contracts through transparent and fair competition conducted at such trading centres. All procedures are computerised. However, China’s rapid transition has resulted in huge investment in construction, breeding widespread corruption. The volume of government expenditure in public procurement jumped from 3.1 billion yuan (US $0.4 billion) in 1998 to 65.3 billion yuan (US $8.2 billion) in 2001, and is expected to rise to 150 billion yuan (US $18.7 billion) in 2003. Since all levels of administration enjoy overwhelming and barely checked power – and transparency and effective monitoring are generally low – the opportunities for corruption are high, and the task of curbing it Herculean. International commitments and perceptions play an important role in motivating the reform of public contracting. China has been a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) since 2001. Though it has not signed the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement, which requires opening public procurement to foreign suppliers on an equal basis, it is an observer to the agreement and is negotiating to sign. In addition the overseas involvement of Chinese companies is having a strong domestic impact. Two weeks after the passage of the government procurement act, the Beijing municipal government and the Olympic Organising Committee issued an action plan for the Olympics, which embraces a wide range of associated construction projects. The organising committee is cooperat-
ing with the Anti-Corruption Research Centre at Tsinghua University, and other institutions, to introduce transparency into all procurement projects for the 2008 games.
CORRUPTION IS
MEDIA
Leaked China Documents Show Massive Corruption, Officials Fleeing Country Albert Ding & Angela Wang A document leaked to The Epoch Times reveals that as of Nov. 26, 2011, Beijing had identified 225 corrupt officials, 58 of them at the local high-level (“ditingji”) and above, who had embezzled over 2.5 billion yuan ($US392 million). Oversight must have been more lax in Anhui Province, which had half as many corrupt cadres—only 97, 19 of them high-level—who’d managed to abscond with 3 billion yuan. But the coastal boom province of Guangdong took the cake: 1,640 corrupt officials, 170 of them high-level cadres, who stole a total of 115 billion yuan (US$18 billion). The numbers come from what appears to be a collection of data, possibly compiled by a state-affiliated research center, that was sent to The Epoch Times on July 12. It came with no explanatory note and was simply identified as “record of corrupt Chinese officials.” The leaked records include the following lists: • Senior high-level (zhengtingji) and above officials, including name, last official post held, and year arrested. • Local high-level officials (ditingji), including name, last post held, amount embezzled, crime charge, and punishment. (In some cases, it simply says “suicide.”) • Officials who have fled China, including name, particulars, and the amount they stole. This group was relatively small fry. The vast majority of them were from state-owned enterprises. The most ambitious was Gao Shan, the president of the Bank of China branch on Hesong Street in Harbin City, who stole $839 million yuan ($131 million). China Bank has about 70 branches in Harbin and over 11,000 across China. • Officials who have been repatriated, including their particulars. Thailand was a common destination of escape and therefore of extradition, with the United States and Australia also assisting in a few extraditions. • Mayors removed from office after being apprehended for corruption. • Officials who have been sent to prison or given the death sentence (sometimes reprieved). The information almost certainly does not come from a government office, according to Heng He, an analyst of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) politics with the New York-based New Tang Dynasty Television. A list of officials, including their particulars, who fled overseas with embezzled money. On July 12, The Epoch Times received a collection of records documenting extensive corruption in the Communist Party. (The Epoch Times) A list of officials, including their particulars, who fled overseas with embezzled money. On July 12, The Epoch Times received a collection of records documenting extensive corruption in the Communist Party. (The Epoch Times)
Based on the language and phraseology employed in the records, he suggested that the likely provenance was internal material compiled by a Party-affiliated research institute. “The full picture of the corruption is state-secret,” he said. The Epoch Times checked a random sampling of the cases and found mainland China media reports that corresponded with the names and figures in the leaked documents. Corruption in China is often referred to as both the lubricant of the Party machine’s economic growth, but also a factor that may precipitate its demise, as ordinary citizens become increasingly incensed with an elite that functions like a kleptocracy, analysts say. Party media regularly make noise about the threat corruption poses to the regime, but while the problem stems from the regime itself, the Party has never allowed any genuine mechanisms of oversight outside its own control. The phenomenon of “naked officials”—where a cadre’s wife and family is outside of China—also troubles Party disciplinarians, even though it has to some extent infected the elite. Research by the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee found that of the 204 Central Committee members, 91 percent had relatives who had emigrated overseas. Out of the 127 members of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the body that investigates corrupt officials, 88 percent had relatives who had emigrated overseas. The data received by The Epoch Times indicated that over 7,101 corrupt officials have fled to the United States, together bringing over 336 billion yuan (US$52.7 billion). The United States thus remains the most-favored destination for fleeing Chinese cadres, but countries with loose immigration regulations like Cambodia, Thailand, and Burma (officially called Myanmar) are popular for lower-level apparatchiks. In a recent interview with the New York Review of Books, Bao Tong, former director of the CCP’s Office of Political Reform and policy secretary of ousted Party leader Zhao Ziyang, said that getting rid of corruption would be impossible under one-Party rule. “Because everyone is in one boat, if that boat turns over, everyone ends up in the water, …” he said, referring specifically to Party officials. “So in China, everyone helps each other out. If you are in trouble, I’ll help you out, and if I’m in trouble you help me out.” “If I were in the current system, I’d be corrupt too. … What they need to do is change the system,” he said. With research by Luo Ya.
China Punishes More Than 182,000 Corrupt Officials BEIJING — The Communist Party's anti-graft body in China says its work was effective in 2013, and led to the investigation and punishment of more than 182,000 party officials. Last year's crackdown was more intense than the year before, and targeted a number of high level officials from the provincial and central government levels, as well as top executives within China's state-owned firms, according to the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection's 2013 review. The review, issued Friday, is a showcase for China's President Xi Jinping, who has pledged to rid the party of corruption regardless of rank or political clout. Joseph Cheng, professor of political science at City University of Hong Kong, says that the party has worked hard to demonstrate its determination to reduce graft. “One of the most important features of that is to indicate that no matter how high you are, you are still subject to sanctions and prosecution,” says Cheng. Liu Tienan, a vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission speaks during press conference Wednesday April 29, 2009 in Shanghai, China. Liu Tienan, a vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission speaks during press conference Wednesday April 29, 2009 in Shanghai, China. Huang Shuxian, deputy head of the party's watchdog commission, said that last year, the party investigated 31 high level officials and eight of them are now facing legal prosecution. One of the eight is Liu Tienan, a top economic official whose questionable financial deals were first uncovered by a journalist at a prominent Chinese magazine. Former provincial deputy head Ni Fake, another name on the commission's list, accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in return for mining rights and land. According to party investigators, some of the bribes came in the form of expensive jade carvings, which Ni liked to collect and showcase in a private gallery. Joseph Cheng says that official pronouncements about targeting both “tigers and flies,” high and low level corruption, leaves people wondering how far Xi Jinping's administration is willing to go. “All eyes are turning actually to the potential prosecution of Zhou Yongkang,” says Cheng. Zhou is a former member of the Politburo Standing Committee in charge of the police, courts and intelligence services. After his retirement last year, speculations surfaced that he too might be a target of Xi Jinping's anti-graft efforts. A number of Zhou's aids and political allies have been put under investigation since, and Hong Kong media say Zhou himself might be under house arrest.
Cheng says that an indictment against the former security bureau tsar would be exceptional given the high rank Zhou once had, but might also serve President Xi a different purpose. “There is a suspicion that the struggle against Zhou Yongkang is also an attempt to limit the immense power in the hands of the public security apparatus, which is probably one of the goals in the hands of Xi Jinping who wants to concentrate power in his hands,” says Cheng. After taking office last March, Xi has been consolidating power by taking a number of powerful seats, including the chairmanship of the “leading group for overall reform,” in charge of economic plans and domestic policies. President Xi is also general-secretary of the Communist Party and chief of the Central Military Commission.
This man was just evicted from Beijing’s underground heating system— and there are many more like him Gang Yang and Lily Kuo In a luxury residential neighborhood in northeastern Beijing, a 52-yearold man named Wang Xiuqing has been living in the underground pipelines (link in Chinese) of the city’s heating system for 10 years. On Dec. 6, after seeing news reports (Chinese) of Wang and others’ underground abodes, officials removed the residents and sealed off the manholes leading to their makeshift homes with concrete. As a result, Wang and a few others have quickly become the focus of an outpouring of sympathy and anger on Chinese social media (registration required) over the treatment of the city’s many migrant workers. Because of Beijing’s sky-high apartment rental costs, as many as two million people—about a tenth of the city’s population—are said to be living below street level in underground storage basements and air-raid shelters partitioned into cramped, windowless rooms. Many of those who have to crowd into these homes are migrant workers like Wang, from the nearby province of Hebei. Because of a household registration system that connects them with their hometowns, they’re often barred from using public services like education and healthcare. On Sina Weibo, the country’s largest microblogging site, photos of Wang’s filthy bedroom and details of his story circulated under the hashtag “well-dwelling snail house,” using a common phrase to describe humble, tiny homes. Wang earned his keep by washing taxis and collecting plastic bottles for recycling, and used the pipes in his underground tunnel to keep warm. By Dec. 9, the hashtag had over 45,000 comments. The comments ranged from offers to help the residents find jobs, to criticism of officials for sealing off their homes. “Is this how they provide assistance to homeless people?” one user said. Others criticized the pace of the country’s problems with income inequality. “This problem roots deeply in the yawning wealth gap rather than illegally residing in the well. The government’s solution is crude and brutal,” another said. The attention may be helping. According to Xinhua, Wang has been offered a job at a college in Beijing that should pay between 3,000 and 4,000 yuan (link in Chinese), between $490 and $650 a month —about a 1,000 to 2,000 yuan more than what he was previously earning. The debate could also further motivate Beijing city officials who have said that providing more affordable housing in the city is a top priority. Authorities say they will supply 20,000 cheaper homes (paywall) for “self use”— for residents to live in, not hold for investment, which drives up prices.
In Beijing, housing is so expensive that migrant workers are living in bomb shelters Nate Berg The numbers are undeniably mind-boggling: An estimated two million people in Beijing are said to be living below the earth’s surface, in thousands of 100-square-foot spaces located just one or two stories below street level. These figures have been making headlines (and trending upwards) for a couple of years now. Assuming they’re accurate, that would mean 10 percent of the city’s 20 million people sleep in windowless, subterranean residences. That they are there speaks to the crushingly expensive housing market in China’s bulging top-tier cities. The makeshift conversion of approximately 20,000 antiquated bomb shelters and basements across Beijing has also no doubt led to a rise in dangerous living conditions: it’s common to find multiple people sharing these small emergency shelters made only slightly more hospitable with space heaters and hot plates. The only affordable alternative would be way out on the city’s periphery. And yet, if you ask them, many of these people, most of them migrant workers, will tell you their choice to live underground is vastly better than the alternative. “The plus side for them of living underground was, of course, better economic opportunities,” says Annette M. Kim, associate professor of urban planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “They had multiple jobs in the vicinity, and they didn’t have enough time to travel far.” The only affordable alternative for most migrant workers in Beijing, Kim says, would be way out on the city’s periphery – beyond the Sixth Ring Road – where the combination of distance and poor transit access creates hours-long commutes. Kim and her team have gleaned these preliminary findings from extensive interviews with about 20 underground Beijing residents. Of the subterranean residents they’ve talked with so far, there are waiters, maids, cooks, salespeople, deliverymen, vendors, construction workers, and security guards. Tenancy in these underground units ranged from just a few days to more than eight years. They’ve also been collecting more concrete data from classified ads for this unique class of housing. Based on an analysis of more than 600 ads posted to the website Ganji.com, the median monthly rent for one of these units is about $64. “Of course there’s a sampling bias with these online ads,” Kim says. “I think they’re going to be on the slightly higher end of the bomb shelter market.” This ad from Ganji.com offers a 10-square-meter room in the basement of a building just outside the 3rd Ring Road for 240 yuan a month, or about $39. A holdover of Cold War anxieties, bomb shelters are still required by Beijing’s official building code. In the 1990s, the city enacted a policy to
open up these spaces for use. But the government has since grown weary of the underground dwellings. In August 2010, the city stopped granting new use permits for these spaces and has a three-year plan to move all the subterranean residents. Kim says many, if not most, remain for now. But the policy raises some questions about the accuracy of the city’s tally of underground residents, which may be inflated to justify evictions. Kim is planning to go back to do more field research this summer to get a better idea of how extensive this lifestyle really is and how the underground dwelling market functions. She hopes to gather more data on transportation access and to look at the relationship between the above- and below-ground local real estate. If indeed there are two million people living underground in Beijing, Kim thinks there may be a way to make this housing stock work better. Or maybe it’s fine as it is, providing exactly what this growing class of migrant workers needs at the right price and location. “I’m still grappling with how to understand it,” she says.
Beijing home rents to rise as millions swarm back to work Langi Chiang The millions of people heading back to work in Beijing this week are likely to push home rents in the capital to a new record. “Landlords often raise rents after the Lunar New Year holiday as demand increases,” said Wang Kangle, a real estate agent working for Homelink in Beijing. “Or if they are willing to compromise a bit on prices, their homes will be rented out very quickly.” That is part of the seasonal cycle in the mainland home rental market. Deals and rentals also rise in summer, when millions of new graduates leave universities for jobs, and then dip during winter. Landlords typically demand an increase in rent when leases are renewed, often once a year. Rents have increased rapidly in the past few years, but the phenomenon attracted little attention from policymakers more preoccupied with fighting property speculation and curbing rising home prices. Some industry analysts argue, however, that increasing rents contribute to worries about a bubbly housing market on the mainland and should be watched more carefully. “People haven’t paid enough attention to it, but we have always been worried about home rental increases,” Harry Lu, president of Century 21 China Real Estate, said last month. “Home rents have gone up fast in the past few years and have hit a dangerous level now. It will probably cause some problems, even becoming a social stability issue.” Official and private estimates of the pace of rent rises vary - as they do for home price increases on the mainland. But they depict a similar trend, with rent growth easing in the past three years from a record pace in 2010. That year, home prices also soared at their fastest clip, riding on loose monetary policy. Homelink said average rents in Beijing rose 12 per cent last year to 58 yuan (HK$73.70) per square metre. Another top agency, Bacic & 5i5j, estimated rents rose 7.4 per cent to an average of 3,738 yuan per home. The city’s statistics bureau put the annual increase in home rents, part of the local consumer price index, at 6 per cent last year. Data from the bureau also showed the average monthly salary in Beijing was 2,523 yuan last year, up 8.3 per cent in nominal terms. The city’s consumer inflation hit 3.3 per cent last year. A report in June by the People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece, warned that rents took up 40 per cent of income in first-tier cities including Beijing and Shanghai and that young people had resorted to sharing squeezed living space with many others to save costs. Many migrant workers live in windowless rooms beneath residential buildings. Wang said he had once seen a 146 square metre, three-bedroom apartment partitioned into 10 separate rooms so that the landlord could
charge more rent in total. Beijing’s municipal government has vowed to stamp out such practices this year, in a move that analysts worry will further drive up rents. “I’m afraid my landlord will probably ask for a rent rise this September if I want to renew the contract,” Wang said. He returned to Beijing on Wednesday after 10 hours’ travel by train from his family home in Shanxi province.
Housing rent-to-price ratio reach record high in Beijing
According to a report from China National Radio news, in November the Beijing real estate market again hit record figures for the rent-toprice ratio, reaching a ratio of 1:546, going above 1:500 for the first time. Some areas even reached 1:700. The rent-to-price ratio in January, however, was 1:351, still a 36 percent increase. Insiders believe that there are many reasons causing this phenomenon, but the most important one is the sharply soaring housing prices. In accordance with statistical data from the market research development of Midland Realty, the average price of the second-hand houses in Beijing in the first half of November reached 13,150 yuan per square meter, an increase of 48 percent compared to the beginning of 2009 when the average price was 8,900 yuan, and the average turnover of the second-hand houses surpassed 120,000 yuan a set, reaching 123,000 yuan. The rate even doubled in some areas. The average price for rental housing in Beijing in November stayed at about 2250 yuan a month, a little higher than in last October. Compared to the rising sale prices, the average rental prices were obviously left behind. According to data from the research department of the third market of Centaline China in Beijing, the price of medium and high-grade commercial housing in Beijing in October was 16,957 yuan per square meter, a 19 percent increase year-on-year, but the average rental price in October was 43.2 yuan per square meter a month, an increase of 1 percent year-on-year. According to statistics, the rent-to-price ratio of Beijing’s second-hand properties in November reached 1:546, which means that one property can recover the investment cost only 45 years later if it is rented out, without taking into account the interest on the loan. The situation that parts of housings may be hard to recover the investment cost even 70 years later considering the interest. The most important reason causing the phenomenon is that the investors raised the rent-to-price ratio. The different views between Chinese people and foreigners on renting and buying a house has led to the current situation that buying a house has become necessary for most Chinese people, which is also one of the reasons that the rent-to-price ratio on Chinese real estate is far higher than the international standard. However, the analysts at many professional institutions, including Centaline China, believe that increasingly, demand for the investment to enter the market is the most direct reason causing a rapid rise in the housing price and the rental level diverging drastically from the housing price. Currently, the number of speculators has exceeded those who really need an apartment to live in and become major participators in the market. At the same time, panic demand accounted for 30 percent of the total in November. Some people buy apartments no matter where those apartments are located and how high the prices are. They usually depend on bank loans and they also have become key participants in the market
in Beijing. Over recent years, more and more people turned their eyes to commercial apartments, and most of them use rent payments to pay bank loans. So many people now want to rent out their apartments that tenants are able to choose a unit which best fits their needs, and which will inevitably result in a decline in the rental rates for apartments. According to Wu Cunsheng, director of Beijing Maitian Real Estate Company, rail traffic facilities are now extending to more and more places in Beijing, and some demand for apartments in good locations has been offset. In the past, those who worked near the China World Trade Center usually rented an apartment beside Line 1 or 4 of the Beijing Subway. With the completion of more rail projects, however, tenants have a wider range of choices. That is to say, they can consider renting an apartment in nearly any place where there is a subway line. Therefore, tenants do not need to focus on apartments in certain areas any more, resulting in a general decline in the average cost of rent. The upward trend of house prices and the downward trend of average rents combined to result in a higher and higher rent-to-price ratio in the residential housing market. “Most people bought houses for the returns on the rising house prices, because rent has stayed at low levels.” A home buyer said that the long-term investment of renting a house out is no longer popular.” Background information Rent to price ratio: the rent to price ratio in the property market means the ratio between monthly rent and total house price. The ratio reflects whether the gap between rent and house price is rational or not, and serves to test whether a region’s housing market operates well or not. People may buy houses for investment, but rent houses in order to live. Consequently, the relationship between rent and house price can reflect the condition of housing market. Generally speaking, the rent to price ratio by international standard is between 1:100 and 1:200, which is called the ratio’s red line. However, the rent to price ratio in Beijing has been higher than the red line since 2004 (comparison is always conducted by means of the inverse of rent-price ratio.)
China: Rent-seeking in the Making Fred Harrison It happened in Europe in the 16th century. It happened in Russia in the 1990s. And now it is happening in China before our very eyes – the predatory rent-seeking culture being incubated to divide a nation between rich and poor. But the game is not yet up for China. Can the Politburo pull off an historic victory to launch their nation in a post-capitalist direction? The concept of rent-seeking was coined by post-classical economists to disguise the attractions of rent as the correct source of public revenue. Rent-seeking is a term now employed to characterise all forms of privileges. But the primary rent-seeking activity is the one that begins with the de-socialisation of land and the privatisation of the rents that a population creates through its co-operative activities. The formation of the rent-seeking culture can be monitored in China in the finest detail. Over the past 20 years, the traditional holdings of farmers were appropriated by corrupt local officials who sold parcels of under-priced land to developers. That left the margin of profit to go into the back pockets of bureaucrats. The psychology of land speculation penetrated the up-and-coming middle class. They figured out that the state was derelict in its duty to protect the population’s collective interest in land. So there emerged a new economic sport. It’s called buy-to-let. People borrowed money and purchased properties to build portfolios that generated rents. China fell victim to the property boom/bust cycle. Time to Change Course? The Communist Party still rules the political roost. And, constitutionally, all the land of China is legally the property of all citizens. So, in practice, there is still time for China to change course. According to the new premier. Li Keqiang, the time has come to confront the corruption that is separating the people from the party. He recently declared: “Such a state of affairs is not good for government efficiency, it might create opportunities for corruption or rent-seeking behaviour and it harms the image of the government”. There is one way only to terminate the trend which threatens the future of the Communist Party: re-socialise the rents and privatise people’s earned incomes. That would be a tough feat even for the authoritarian communists to accomplish. For, as Mr. Li acknowledged, it is “harder to tackle vested interests than to touch a person’s soul”. The Communist Party of China is the last bastion of the materialist ideology. It would be ironical if the communists managed to build their way to the post-capitalist state by touching the souls of their people.
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This publication is designed into a serious type of cafe book, as it offers casual/random readings about corruption issues in China. On the other hand, it is also functioning for any political campaign and economic conferences. In order to achieve as many readers as possible, I decided to establish a connection between the issue and surroundings in reality as well as formal researches; to start an argument, a debate rather than being self-expressive and strongly opinion based. Each individual readings are connected together through the use of grid and images. To put it simply, it is a result of my efforts of putting things together interestingly. The content gatherings are ideally driven by my fundamental understandings of the term after researches; then logically designed on a simple oriented grid and colour system.
GRID SYSTEM