China's corruption woes

[Schadenfroh]

Not to be outdone by India's corruption:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2175564

http://www.npr.org/2011/07/01/137545861/chinas-communist-party-celebrates-90-years?ps=rs

As China's Communist Party celebrates its 90th anniversary, President Hu Jintao has warned that its long rule has led to grave corruption.

In a de facto single party state, only 80 million of ~ 1.3 billion citizens are members of the communist party:

With 80 million members, it's now the world's largest political party.

It is a tale of two cities, really, the urban rich versus the rural peasants:

"The whole world can see the great achievements of the Communist Party," he said, his voice trembling with pride. "It's made Chinese people stand up. It's made them rich. And now it's made China strong."

versus

"It's rotten to its roots. They don't care how many laws they break," she said. "Nationwide, how much farming land has been taken from us? What are we farmers supposed to eat?"

Not to mention eminent domain from hell:

Three years ago, she and her husband were informed that their house would be demolished for a road-widening project. They were never shown any proper legal permits. And the official plans showed the wider road still lay 30 feet from their house. But their objections got nowhere. The pair were detained, and while they were in custody, their house was torn down.

Some party members wonder why they even bother calling themselves communists anymore:

her husband is still a Communist Party member, as he has been for the past 30 years. He said he wants legal redress and to see the rule of law implemented, rather than compensation.

He believes nowadays the party is communist in name alone.

"I don't know if today's China is socialist, capitalist or feudal. Now their behavior is totally feudal. It's a dictatorship. They don't let you speak. They can just throw you in prison. Now it's like that," he said.

The corruption runs deep and can remain hidden for nearly a generation:

A recent People's Bank of China report found that $124 billion had been taken out of the country by 17,000 corrupt officials over a 20-year period.

Some even vent their rage, despite the usual problems of protesting inside a police state:

Across Beijing in the northern suburb of Tiantongyuan, an unofficial act to mark the party's anniversary tells another story. In a scrubby patch of ground hugged between two major roads is a small house painted with the words "Dedicated to the party's 90th anniversary." Above that is painted, "Save me, Communist Party!"

"I did this to embarrass the Communist Party," admitted Wang Jinshu.

...

Protests are no longer rare, and the past few weeks have seen clashes between police and demonstrators in Guangdong, Inner Mongolia and Hubei. There have even been at least two separate cases where disgruntled petitioners targeted government buildings with homemade bombs, in Tianjin city and in Fuzhou in Jiangxi province.

Last year, there were 180,000 "mass incidents," as the government euphemistically calls them, according to one Chinese academic — double the number from four years before

Personally, I fear a generation in charge of China that did not get to experience first-hand what real Maoism means (in The Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, etc.). Hopefully, the new leadership will have access to factual historical accounts before coming to power (instead of the whitewashed / censored history of the masses) and avoid the mistakes of older generations.

 

[chucky2]

I wonder when civil unrest gets bad enough, will China enact meaningful reforms, a fascade of reforms, or occupy their populations mind with something else, like an expansion....

 

[Braznor]

Ha ha

Chinese corruption is nothing compared to Indian corruption.

Corrupt Chinese officials steal millions of dollars, corrupt Indian officials steal BILLIONS of dollars.

The entire Indian system needs a great purge.

 

[Braznor]

I wonder when civil unrest gets bad enough, will China enact meaningful reforms, a fascade of reforms, or occupy their populations mind with something else, like an expansion....

I, as the member of the greater anti global liberal announcer, announce that the great campaign of third world antiliberals has begun in the form of men greater than myself.

 

[BoberFett]

"I don't know if today's China is socialist, capitalist or feudal. Now their behavior is totally feudal. It's a dictatorship. They don't let you speak. They can just throw you in prison. Now it's like that," he said.

It always has been, they just might not have noticed at first. Large scale communism has never and will never work. The same people who end up on the top of the capitalist pyramid just end up at the top of the communist pyramid instead.

 

[Braznor]

It always has been, they just might not have noticed at first. Large scale communism has never and will never work. The same people who end up on the top of the capitalist pyramid just end up at the top of the communist pyramid instead.

Exactly the reason for corruption.

 

[Munky]

So when should I expect American drones and bombs to spread democracy to China and put an end to its oppressive regime?