If some of the headlines from the past few weeks in China wereturned into a reality television show, the result might merit thetitle "Communist Officials and Rich Kids Behaving Badly."
Extremely badly, in some cases, and with tragic consequences.
On Dec. 8, Zhang Hongbin, a 44-year-old married deputy mayor of adistrict in Anhui province, allegedly strangled his 26-year-oldmistress, then drove more than 300 miles to another province withher body in the back seat before turning himself in to police.
On Dec. 16, Li Guangsheng, a local party official in Hubeiprovince who is 46 and married, allegedly argued with his 34-year-old mistress, who was pregnant with twins and had demanded that Limarry her. According to police, Li strangled the woman, put her bodyin a leather bag filled with stones and dropped it off a bridge intoa river. He then allegedly used the woman's cellphone to text fakemessages to her boss saying she needed some time off.
Just a few months earlier, in July, Xie Zaixing, 48, a localCommunist Party chief in Zhejiang province, was sentenced to deathfor fatally choking his young mistress, chopping up her body anddumping her remains into a river.
And on Dec. 5, Gu Qingyang, a county postmaster in central Henanprovince, was driving drunk late at night on the wrong side of theroad when, police say, he plowed into a group of seven teenagerswalking along the road, killing five of them instantly.
Such incidents have deeply embarrassed China's ruling CommunistParty, which promotes itself on its Web site as the "faithfulrepresentative" of the Chinese people. In several of the cases, themistresses had threatened to expose the officials for corruption.
Critics, including academics and the growing community of onlineactivists, say the incidents illustrate a widespread sense ofimpunity among powerful local party officials. The rising publicanger over official misdeeds, some add, threatens the leadership'sgoal of maintaining "social harmony."
"These incidents weaken the government's credibility little bylittle," said Li Datong, a social commentator and former editor ofthe China Youth Daily's weekly supplement. "It's like a fire in awood pile: A small incident can easily trigger a big mass incidentduring a time of social unrest. It's a very dangerous situation,which is why the government spends heavily to maintain socialstability by paying large sums of hush money to the victims'families."
On Wednesday, in an apparent bid to stay ahead of the problem ofvice in its ranks, the party issued its first white paper oncorruption, saying graft remains "still very serious," despite thepunishment of 113,000 officials in 2010 through November. It saidthe party would not cede the anticorruption fight to anyone.
As bad as the behavior of some local Communist officials hasbeen, other recent incidents involving young people and their fast-driven cars have also put a media spotlight on China's growingincome disparity and the widely held view that the children of thenew elite think they are above the law.
The case of Yao Jiaxin, 21, a student at the Xi'an Conservatoryof Music, inspired particular outrage. In late October, Yao, drivinga Chevrolet Cruze, knocked down a woman on a bicycle and kept going.But when he saw the woman was still alive and looking at his licenseplate, police said, Yao got out of his car and stabbed the womanuntil she died. When he was caught later, he allegedly told policethat "the peasant woman would be hard to deal with."
Also in October, a 22-year-old student, Li Qiming, hit two femalestudents, killing one, while driving his Volkswagen Magotan throughthe campus of Hebei University. Li jumped out of his car and triedto flee, and when police captured him, he began shouting, "My fatheris Li Gang!" Li Gang is a senior public security official in thedistrict where the campus is located.
Both cases have attracted widespread attention on Internetforums, and "My father is Li Gang!" has become a favorite onlinecatchphrase to denote the spoiled children of China's new richflaunting their sense of privilege.
Liu Junning, an outspoken academic and government critic, saidthat ordinary people seize on these traffic incidents in onlineforums and chat groups because they offer an opportunity - rare inChina's closed political system - to vent their frustration.
"These young princelings are so arrogant, and they don't know whypeople are unhappy with them," Liu said of the rich youths. "Peoplehave no chance to express their unhappiness, except when a caraccident happens."
Chinese Internet users have also used online forums, with theanonymity they afford, to document cases of corruption and abuse bylocal officials. In some instances, it was the spurned mistresseswho posted their grievances online.
In October, party officials in Guangdong province said they beganinvestigating Chen Yachun, the married vice mayor of Maoming city,after a woman claiming to be his longtime mistress postedphotographs of a naked, pudgy, middle-aged man who appeared to beChen, along with an account of how he had duped her with a fakedivorce certificate. The woman said Chen began an affair with her in2003 while they were attending a party training session. He was 51and she was 27.
In March, Han Feng, who was head of sales for the tobaccomonopoly in the Guangxi autonomous region, was arrested inconnection with taking bribes, after purported excerpts from a racysex diary he kept were posted online.
Hu Xingdou, a professor at the Beijing Institute of Technologywho researches social issues, said the string of incidents has madethe party a "national laughingstock" and undercut the government'songoing efforts to curb pornography and public indecency.
"The recent cases show Chinese officials' ethics and moralprinciples have nearly collapsed," Hu said. "Officials embezzlingand keeping mistresses are the problems that people hate most.That's why people don't support or have any interest in respondingto the government's anti-pornography campaign, because the officialsthemselves have more serious problems."
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