China: 'Tis the Season for Giving

[Saul Thomas <stthomas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hong Kong Standard
Feb 4, 2000

Cadres find New Year to be bountiful season

By Fong Tak-ho

STORY: THE Lunar New Year is a golden opportunity for corruption and
nepotism as people frantically send gifts to party cadres in Beijing.

``People are sending gifts worth tens of thousands of dollars to please
powerful persons who can accelerate procedures for ongoing joint-ventures
or in exchange for information about the lowest tender for a particular
project,'' one resident said yesterday.

The observation was echoed by a State Development Planning Commission
official, who said this type of corruption was very common in the capital.

The commission too, he said, received tonnes of food and other gift
products from local governments that hope the Central Government would
allocate more resources to them in the new financial year.

Since their salaries were low, the cadres would accept these gifts as a
``special subsidy'' for the New Year.

``Despite the State Council reiterating that it is an offence to do so,
people still send gifts privately,'' the official said.

``The gifts are sent to the residences of the cadres, making it really hard
for graft-busters.''

These gifts were usually expensive items, from herbal medicines to
big-screen TVs. The gift in vogue now is an electronic massage sofa, which
can cost anything from 15,000 to 35,000 yuan.

A salesman at the massage sofa sales counter at Lufthansa Centre, a top
department store, said sales had increased dramatically.

``Most of our clients are corporate clients or from government
organisations,'' he said. ``Most are buying the massage sofa as a gift.''

A writer well known in the capital for exposing official corruption, Chen
Fang, said the practice started about 10 years ago and had become widespread.

Mr Chen - whose book about corruption, The Wrath of Heaven, was a
bestseller on the mainland - described the Lunar New Year as ``the high
time for corruption''.

``Even a poverty-stricken county would have to send gifts worth at least
700,000-800,000 yuan to please various ministries of the Central
Government,'' he said. ``Otherwise they could risk the danger of angering
powerful officials.''

Mr Chen called for the government to launch a salary review to boost the
morale of civil servants and stop the practice.