Beijing has given the domestic Chinese media wide latitude in covering the recent crackdown on corrupt officials outside of Beijing (most notably, Chen Liangyu, the former party secretary of Shanghai). Partly, at least, in hopes that public recognition of the problem will quell the public’s very real anger at corrupt officials, particularly those involved in land seizures. Of course, there is always the very real possibility that revealing corruption will not quell anger, but merely serve to stoke it.
With this in mind, the Jane McCartney of the Times Online reports that civil servants in Ningbo have created an interactive video game named “Incorruptible Fighter” in which players gun down corrupt officials as they cavort with bikini-clad mistresses. Here, a screenshot from the Times story:
I wonder if the Ningbo authorities have fully considered the consequences of conditioning gamers to the idea that vigilante justice against corrupt officials is acceptable.
Anyway.
Consciously and unconsciously, the Chinese and foreign media often report Chinese government corruption as a recent phenomenon that has arisen recently, largely as a result of economic reforms. This point of view is not exactly correct, as pointed out by Xu Youyu of the China Academy of Social Sciences in his interesting essay “There was no corruption in the past?” The always excellent Danwei blog has provided a link and an English translation of the essay. Highly recommended.