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Chinese Blogger Becomes Celebrity Exposing Corruption

Posted by samzenpus on from the you-can't-handle-the-truth dept.

hackingbear writes "The New York Times reports the story of a Chinese blogger named Zhu Ruifeng who has become an overnight celebrity in China. He posted a secretly recorded video of an 18-year-old woman having sex with a 57-year-old official from the southwestern municipality of Chongqing. The official, along with 10 others, lost their jobs and are now under investigation. Mr. Zhu says ordinary citizens have come to rely on the Internet for retribution, even if it often amounts to mob justice. 'We used to say that when you have a problem, go to the police,' he said. 'Now we say when you have a problem, go to the netizens.' He has become a litmus test of how committed China's new leaders are in their battle against corruption — and whether they can tolerate populist crusaders like Mr. Zhu."

35 of 143 comments (clear)

  1. you won't ever hear what happens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    to the blogger, though... some day (soon if he keeps it up), he'll simply "disappear".....

  2. Link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    So where's the link to the video in question?

    1. Re:Link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Google understands Chinese

  3. He's not a hero, by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...he just wanted some porn. Exposing corruption was an accident :-)

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
    1. Re:He's not a hero, by c0lo · · Score: 4, Informative
      Either you are pretending that you RTFA or you you have a deficit in the reading comprehension area

      The compromising images of Lei Zhengfu, the Chongqing official caught having sex with the 18-year-old, have been an anti-graft jackpot for Mr. Zhu: 11 officials have resigned or been fired for their role in what was a honey trap organized by business executives seeking to blackmail powerful bureaucrats to win government contracts. The scheme ultimately failed, but the tapes ended up in the hands of the Chongqing police. After investigators failed to act, Mr. Zhu says, a disgruntled person inside the department sent the evidence his way.

      So, let's count:
      1. successful bribery - (otherwise why 11 resignations/sacking after the tapes containing the sex scene ended at the Chongqing police?)
      2. blackmail attempt (even if the blackmail scheme failed)
      3. police failing to act

      To my count, that's at least 3 cases I'd classify as corruption

      --
      Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
    2. Re:He's not a hero, by PPH · · Score: 2

      what was a honey trap organized by business executives seeking to blackmail powerful bureaucrats to win government contracts. The scheme ultimately failed, but the tapes ended up in the hands of the Chongqing police. After investigators failed to act, Mr. Zhu says, a disgruntled person inside the department sent the evidence his way.

      Sounds like the businessmen provided some official with an 18 year old, recorded the encounter and tried to blackmail him. But he didn't give in to their demands, so they gave the tapes to the police. "Look, we got this guy laid but he didn't come through with the contracts".

      The businessmen need to be arrested. Maybe a few of the government officials needed to resign if they took the bait. But if the blackmail scheme "failed", I'd give the official involved a medal. He got laid and didn't sell out. The fact that none of the businessmen were rounded up in this fiasco sounds like the police were complicit in the blackmail scheme.

      Heck, send as many 18 yo girls as you want to my house. You're not getting any preferential treatment. The only people leaving satisfied will be me and the women.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  4. Stay low by kcelery · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As a whistle blower, keeping his head low is mandatory in China.

    The guy who reported the milk factory misuse of melamine was murdered.
    Rumor said there was a bounty of 1/2 million RMB on his life.

    http://ntdtv.org/en/news/china/2012-11-23/china-s-toxic-milk-whistleblower-murdered.html

    1. Re:Stay low by Calibax · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Almost certainly the guy who posed the video is being used by someone who passed him the tape.

      The real whistle blower is probably a higher level functionary who wanted the tape released to discredit a political enemy and able to protect this guy, for now. How long the poster will continue to be protected is anyone's guess.

    2. Re:Stay low by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Note that NTD is founded by the Falun Gong and biased.

      This South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) report makes the attack sound more complicated, with his wife being charged, though also with reports that others were present.

      Though obviously that could all be a cover-up, and I don't trust what the cops in China say..

  5. But how long will this last? by Calibax · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The newly minted Standing Committee of the Politburu (the 9 folks who rule China) have made it clear that corruption is a major issue. However, previous Standing Committees have said the same and even started efforts to tackle it. These efforts haven't lasted long enough to make a small dent in the problem, never mind eradicate it.

    The problem is that all levels of politicians and bureaucrats benefit greatly from corruption. Lower level bureaucrats want to become rich, higher level bureaucrats and they have no reason to rock the boat for themselves or their bureaucratic and political superiors.

    I wonder how long these sorts of grass roots efforts will be tolerated. China has repeatedly shown that they can bury anything on their portion of the internet given sufficient incentive.

    1. Re:But how long will this last? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Informative

      The newly minted Standing Committee of the Politburu (the 9 folks who rule China) have made it clear that corruption is a major issue.

      When Xi Jinping spoke out about corruption, in the very next breath he emphasized that "stability" was more important. That is understood by Chinese people to mean nothing much will be done. In the previous administration, many people looked at the premier, Wei Jiabao, as a champion of integrity, and it was a big shock to a lot of Chinese when the NY Times exposed his billions in overseas accounts. Xi Jinping's response to Wei Jiabao's corruption is not to hold him accountable, but rather to try to block the Chinese people from reading the NY times. The culture of corruption and impunity goes all the way to the top.

      Most "anti-corruption" drives in China are used to scapegoat political enemies, and even execute a few people (kill the chicken to scare the monkey). But there is rarely any reform to the system that made the corruption possible. For instance, when thousands of people died in the Sichuan Earthquake because building inspectors had been bribed, a few people were shot. But the real solution (making building inspection reports into public records freely accessible to anyone with a browser) did not happen.

    2. Re:But how long will this last? by Smauler · · Score: 2

      Corruption, when done well, is almost impossible to detect.

      The thing is, it's so badly done and rife in China that there are lots of examples. This has happened to every society moving to a large scale capitalistic economy... it's a symptom of the system.

      I'm not saying the system is necessarily bad (in my opinion regulated capitalism is the best economic model we have), but when you start capitalism, it's difficult to regulate... and lots of people can gain lots of money and power. This has been seen time and time again. Russia is a decent example.

    3. Re:But how long will this last? by hairyfish · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The last Chinese revolution was only 40 years ago, the one before that was only 60 years ago. "Change nothing" is hardly the right phrase to use when talking about Chinese political history.

    4. Re:But how long will this last? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Informative

      Corruption, when done well, is almost impossible to detect.

      Regulation, when done well, is almost impossible to corrupt. If you want to start a business in China, you will have to pay a bribe. I have started several business in the USA, and there is no where in the system for a bribe. The law says that the county clerk must issue the license. They have no discretion. When I lived in Shanghai, I had to pay a bribe so my kids could attend school. The rules are murky and unwritten, so the school staff has huge discretion of who can attend. In America the rules for admission are written down, clear, and publicly available. The system in China is designed to be corruptible, while the American system is designed to prevent it.

      In America, nearly all of my interaction with local, state and federal government is through websites. It is difficult to get an under-the-table bribe through a website. When I have to deal face-to-face, such as at the DMV, it is at a public window in full view of other people. When I have had to deal with government officials in China, they often will lead applicants one at a time into private offices, out of view of the public. The corruption is pervasive and systematic, and their procedures are designed to facilitate it.

       

    5. Re:But how long will this last? by phantomfive · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Probably, but isn't that a form of balance of power?

      A form of balance of power? Scape-goating political enemies and having them killed and exiled? The idea of balance of power is to separate the powers so that no group gains so much power that they can destroy their political enemies. It's the opposite of what you think it is.

      How's that different from two party election system?

      In a properly designed system, the party can be out of power without worrying about death or exile. Believe it or not, that's a huge difference.

      For example, Hong Kong was very corrupt back in 1960's; the HK government tried to crack down on corruption but met with resistance and chaos; eventually the HK government had to pardon all corrupted officials and police. Today, HK is one of the cleanest government in the world. The same thing happened in Taiwan and S. Korea.

      You do realize the ex-president of Taiwan is currently in jail for embezzlement, right? Your ability to gather accurate information isn't exactly showing itself today.....

      Like all of our problems in this world, when a problem hits the main street headline day and night, it is near the time of a solution.

      The hope is that eventually China will enter the modern world and have a modern democracy. Unfortunately, there are many problems that are constantly in the main street headline, and still haven't been resolved. I leave to you as an exercise to find some.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    6. Re:But how long will this last? by hackingbear · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Agree! No, there is no corruption in the US. There are only political contributions which is perfectly legal. And you only need to pay it when you need to change the law to your flavor. There is no political contribution in China, there is only corruption which could get you executed. That's the differences in the system designs. I actually think China will eventually go the US system -- election + political contributions. Not because it is good, but because it is more stable.

    7. Re:But how long will this last? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 5, Interesting

      "One of the things I have always found troubling about Westerners doing business in emerging market countries is that they sometimes take an almost perverse pride in discussing payoffs to government officials. It is as though their having paid a bribe is a symbol of their international sophistication and insider knowledge. Yet, countless times when I am told of the bribe, I know the very same thing could almost certainly have been accomplished without a bribe."
      --Dan Harris, chinalawblog.com

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    8. Re:But how long will this last? by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "Yet, countless times when I am told of the bribe, I know the very same thing could almost certainly have been accomplished without a bribe."

      Without the context, that sounds like a very poor understanding of 3rd world bribery. There are basically two kinds of bribes -- bribes to get an official to do something illegal like skip a building inspection but sign the paperwork anyway, and bribes to get an official to simply do their job like show up to do that building inspection without waiting a year.

      BOTH types of bribery are common enough in the third world, but the later is practically de rigueur because most government employees are not paid a living wage. It is almost like tipping a waiter.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    9. Re:But how long will this last? by Koreantoast · · Score: 2

      You are being very selective regarding South Korea. The big leaps in cleaning of corruption came hand-in-hand with freedom of speech, heavy social unrest and democratization. There was continuous pressure on the government for social change in the form of protests and social disobedience, and numerous senior government officials, including two previous presidents, were eventually rounded up and imprisoned. When the Chinese speak of stability, they speak of resisting the very elements that pressured the ROK government to clean up its system. Modern Korea's freewheeling freedom of speech continues to hold the government accountable. The way I see it, the CCP has two choices: they need to either loosen up the control on their system, or the people will eventually rise up and force them to do it. If you truly care about national stability, you would want to see the CCP allow for greater transparency.

    10. Re:But how long will this last? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Informative

      You don't need to pay bribes in China.

      I lived in China for several years. You don't have to pay bribes if you don't want anything from the government. But if you want to send your kids to a public school, and their paternal grandfather didn't live in the district in 1949, then you pay a bribe. If you have a business that requires any kind of license (and they all do), then you either pay a bribe to get the license, or you pay a bribe to the cop on the corner to ignore the fact that you don't have one. A foreigner visiting China will not normally have to pay any bribes, but that is because they don't have the kinds of interactions with the government that require bribes, and also because foreigners are treated differently. Most Chinese people don't consider their country to be corrupt either. They refer to the bribes as "guanxi", or "relationship building", and to them it is so normal that they just accept it as the way it is, and the way it is supposed to be.

  6. It's CHINA by itsphilip · · Score: 2

    Guy will be dead within a year

  7. Re:I'm sort of confused by elsuperjefe · · Score: 2

    I believe sex with the 18 year old girl was offered as a bribe payment for lucrative contracts. The official caught with his pants down apparently had so much money that monetary payments no longer interested him...

  8. Re:I'm sort of confused by Kozz · · Score: 3, Informative

    From TFA:

    The compromising images of Lei Zhengfu, the Chongqing official caught having sex with the 18-year-old, have been an anti-graft jackpot for Mr. Zhu: 11 officials have resigned or been fired for their role in what was a honey trap organized by business executives seeking to blackmail powerful bureaucrats to win government contracts. The scheme ultimately failed, but the tapes ended up in the hands of the Chongqing police. After investigators failed to act, Mr. Zhu says, a disgruntled person inside the department sent the evidence his way.

    --
    I only post comments when someone on the internet is wrong.
  9. Re:I'm sort of confused by LMariachi · · Score: 2

    Yeah, the article doesn't really say, although it does call him "memorably unattractive."

    The compromising images of Lei Zhengfu, the Chongqing official caught having sex with the 18-year-old, have been an anti-graft jackpot for Mr. Zhu: 11 officials have resigned or been fired for their role in what was a honey trap organized by business executives seeking to blackmail powerful bureaucrats to win government contracts.

    suggests that the executives plied the officials with young women in putative exchange for contracts, but they were actually trying to expose the officials so the execs would have fewer palms to grease. It doesn't explicitly say that though.

  10. Re:I'm sort of confused by fermion · · Score: 2
    Unlike politicians in the US and many western countries, who are mostly elected to serve but are free to do as they please, politicians in other countries are often seen as 'chosen' to lead the country, like a king or queen. While behavior might be acceptable to a governor, it would not be acceptable for a queen.

    So it does not really matter if the girl was a gift or a bribe, or just someone who wanted a favor, it has to be seen as corruption due to the circumstances and the power of the leaders in China. We assume that congressperson in the US are routinely bribes with trips and sex partners. However, as the power of a politician is limited, and they are not really servants of the state, it is not automatically corruption when they are caught, and it si hard to prove.

    Look at it this way. Right now a lot of military people are have sexual encounters with those who rank below them. As they are being paid to do a job, and the US is not in the business of pimping, these encounters whether consensual, a form of quid pro quo, or rape is kind of immaterial. It is corruption. Like for powerful officials.

    --
    "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
  11. Re:I'm sort of confused by c0lo · · Score: 2
    TFA

    The compromising images of Lei Zhengfu, the Chongqing official caught having sex with the 18-year-old, have been an anti-graft jackpot for Mr. Zhu: 11 officials have resigned or been fired for their role in what was a honey trap organized by business executives seeking to blackmail powerful bureaucrats to win government contracts. The scheme ultimately failed, but the tapes ended up in the hands of the Chongqing police. After investigators failed to act, Mr. Zhu says, a disgruntled person inside the department sent the evidence his way.

    --
    Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
  12. Re:Good about the angle on this one by c0lo · · Score: 3, Informative
    The plot is thicker than the simplistic way you perceived it; the real "heroes" were the business executives attempting a blackmail on bureaucrats (that would be, in a Chinese setup, the hand of free market attempting to cut back on the burden of a leeching government).

    The compromising images of Lei Zhengfu, the Chongqing official caught having sex with the 18-year-old, have been an anti-graft jackpot for Mr. Zhu: 11 officials have resigned or been fired for their role in what was a honey trap organized by business executives seeking to blackmail powerful bureaucrats to win government contracts. The scheme ultimately failed, but the tapes ended up in the hands of the Chongqing police. After investigators failed to act, Mr. Zhu says, a disgruntled person inside the department sent the evidence his way.

    --
    Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
  13. don't believe the hype by decora · · Score: 4, Insightful

    there are a lot of bloggers who have exposed corruption etc who are in jail or who are under constant police harassment of themselves and their families, with employment blocked and all sorts of other problems that political dissidents have faced since time immemorial.

    until people like Zhao Lianhai can live an ordinary free life in China, this talk of netizens fighting back the government is not convincing - it might simply be a bunch of propaganda and we all might be dupes in some kind of clever bureaucratic infighting inside the Communist Party hierarchy.

    think about it. who leaked the video to him? who protected him from being arrested and sent to a labor camp for a year, like the girl who made a joke tweet a few years ago?

  14. Re:I'm sort of confused by TapeCutter · · Score: 2

    Money can be tracked more easily than hookers.

    --
    And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  15. Pushing low-level wrongdoers under the bus ... by Wrath0fb0b · · Score: 2

    ... is a favorite pastime of the larger wrongdoers. Does anyone think that the PRC power structure really cares about some po-dunk municipal pervert?

  16. Re:you won't ever hear what happens by MightyMartian · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Read up on Lin Biao. Nobody in China is so big that they can't die in a "plain crash".

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  17. Re:you won't ever hear what happens by drkim · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...Nobody in China is so big that they can't die in a "plain crash".

    Or, if you're a real big-shot, you can have an exceptional crash!

  18. Re:you won't ever hear what happens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That was 40 years ago. China changed a lot since then. Disappearing anyone too famous is asking for trouble. Character assassination works much better.

  19. Re:Where is the porn? by Adult+film+producer · · Score: 2

    I am very interested in this as well.

  20. Re:Balls by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 3, Insightful

    But for how long?

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.