Chinese officials admit to graft

• 02tonyl

  3 Aug 07, 23:09

  Chinese officials admit to graft
  
  Top official, Zheng Xiaoyu, was executed for corruption last month
  Almost 1,800 officials confessed to corruption in June, a Chinese Communist Party watchdog has announced.
  The officials were taking advantage of a month-long leniency offer that began on 30 May, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said.
  
  Over the month, 1,790 people confessed to corruption totalling 77.89m yuan ($10.2m, £5m), a spokesman said.
  
  China has been working hard to tackle official corruption, which has become a major trigger for public discontent.
  
  "Some of the officials have corrected their mistakes and some are still under investigation, since we need to check whether they have confessed all their wrongdoings," CCDI spokesman Gan Yisheng said.
  
  No details were given of what penalties the officials who confessed might face, Xinhua news agency said.
  
  But Mr Gan said corrupt officials who had not confessed would face severe punishment, the agency reported.
  
  Public anger
  
  Corruption is one of the Communist Party's biggest problems and the thing that ordinary people criticise most bitterly, says the BBC's James Reynolds in Beijing.
  
  Chinese gamers have embraced a game that tackles corrupt officials
  
  He says they complain about officials with gold watches, driving around in black Mercedes, getting fat on bribes and free lunches and handing out all the best jobs to their friends and family.
  
  Now, our correspondent says, Chinese President Hu Jintao wants to show that he is taking action, particularly with the party's key five-yearly congress looming.
  
  Last week, the Communist Party's former leader in Shanghai, Chen Liangyu, was expelled from the party, and may now face charges, after he was linked to a pensions fund scandal that has also implicated other senior officials.
  
  His expulsion follows the execution last month of Zheng Xiaoyu, the former head of the country's food and drug watchdog who was convicted of taking bribes to approve products.
  
  But corruption is widespread, affecting local and provincial administrations, as well as the central government.
  
  The popularity of an online game that allows players to eradicate corrupt officials illustrates the depth of feeling among ordinary people over the issue of graft.
  
  The game, entitled "Incorruptible Fighter", was launched just over a week ago.
  
  Since then, it has been downloaded more then 100,000 times and is in such demand that its website has crashed, state media reported.
  
  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6929005.stm
• 02tonyl

  3 Aug 07, 23:11

  China enjoys anti-corruption game
  
  Gaming is increasingly popular among China's youth
  An online game in China that allows players to eradicate corrupt officials has proved so popular its website has crashed, state media reports.
  Since its launch eight days ago, the game, "Incorruptible Fighter", is reported to have been downloaded more than 100,000 times.
  
  The game was devised by a regional government in east China to highlight the problems of corrupt officialdom.
  
  China has been hit recently by a number of high-profile cases of corruption.
  
  The former head of the country's food and drug watchdog was executed last month after being convicted of taking bribes.
  
  Last week, the Communist Party's former leader in Shanghai was expelled from the party, and may now face charges, after he was linked to a pensions fund scandal that has also implicated other senior officials.
  
  President Hu Jintao has vowed to take action against officials found guilty of corruption, which has become rampant since market reforms opened the economy in the 1980s.
  
  'Sense of achievement'
  
  "Incorruptible Fighter" allows players to get ahead by killing and torturing corrupt officials, while assisting the upstanding ones.
  
  Along the way, they are led through a series of moral challenges before entering a corruption-free paradise.
  
  Government officials should be the ones getting anti-corruption education, not local youngsters
  
  Wang Xiongjun
  Peking University
  
  The characters in the game are based on well-known figures from Chinese history.
  
  "We want game players to have fun but also learn about fighting corruption, folklore and history," Qiu Yi, an official in charge of the project, told the China Daily newspaper.
  
  The paper also quoted one gamer called Sun as saying: "I feel a great sense of achievement when I punish lots of evil officials."
  
  The game appeared to have become a victim of its own success. A note on the site on Thursday said it had crashed due to overwhelming demand.
  
  "The game is currently under hardware and software updating as the online players have exceeded the limit of the server and the programme," the notice read.
  
  But some are questioning the game's target audience. "Government officials should be the ones getting anti-corruption education, not local youngsters," Wang Xiongjun of Peking University told the China Daily.
  
  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6928279.stm