Source: Sinosphere, NYT (4/10/15)
Exploring the Fun Side of China’s War on Corruption
By Austin Ramzy
Wang Qishan, who heads the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, responsible for rooting out corruption, has figured as a character in Chinese jokes.Credit Feng Li/Getty Images
For officials under scrutiny, China’s corruption crackdown is no laughing matter. But for many others, it is.
President Xi Jinping’s aggressive effort to curb graft has inspired a wave of political jokes, most of which are generally supportive of the campaign and mock the unscrupulous officials targeted by investigators. Some hint at the shortfalls in the system that have allowed graft to thrive. Others paint the crackdown as a farce.
But the growing comedic collection suggests that the Chinese have realized that the crackdown is no passing fad, and that they might as well have some fun with it.
Even the Communist Party’s main anticorruption body, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, has in a roundabout way acknowledged the significance of graft-inspired humor, saying that such jokes indicate a dangerous gap between officialdom and the public.
Below are some of the corruption jokes traded online via Sina Weibo and Wexin. Where possible, a source is identified, although most jokes have unclear origins.
One example:
Surplus funds were left over after a project was completed, and the local standing committee met to discuss whether it should be used to renovate the elementary school or the prison. Everyone had a different opinion.
Finally, one old committee member set everyone straight: “In this life, will we have any more opportunities to attend elementary school?”
There was silence. Some people wiped sweat from their brows. Others drank tea.
Soon after, everyone reached an agreement: Fix up the prison.
Some jokes refer to the bleakest aspects of the corruption crackdown, such as the deaths of suspects under investigation. The following was written in the form of an emergency warning:
With the gradual increase in the number of officials jumping from buildings, objects occasionally fall from a height, causing great casualties among people and animals. Therefore, everyone is solemnly reminded that when you go outdoors, be vigilant and pay attention to these things:
1. When walking on the street, avoid party committee, government and administrative buildings.
2. Keep far away from all upscale guesthouses, hotels and buildings.
3. When you are walking on the street, don’t keep your head down looking at WeChat on your phone. Instead, concentrate on objects falling from the sky. (After all, these objects weigh far more than ordinary people.) If you are a little bit careless, who knows if a party secretary, governor or minister might come falling down on you?
Other jokes express misgivings with the system as a whole:
A few days ago, a group of former classmates got together. One of them was a low-level boss in an Internet-monitoring office. I asked him what his office did. He said it was responsible for finding people who picked quarrels online and were unhappy with the government.
Another classmate said to him, “You mean there are people who are satisfied with the government?” He said, “Yes, there are, but we don’t deal with them. They’re the responsibility of the Discipline Inspection Commission.”
Xu Caihou, a former People’s Liberation Army general who admitted to taking bribes and who died of cancer in March while under investigation, is the subject of several jokes:
Some people asked, “Who was behind Gen. Xu Caihou?”
General Xu replied: “It’s the people. All my power has been entrusted to me by the people. So the people should think things over. They’re really the ones who should apologize.”
The Chinese comedian Joe Wong posted on Sina Weibo a screenshot of a 2008 interview by the Xinhua news agency that quoted General Xu as saying: “Only a clean military can be a victorious military.”
Mr. Wong added his own commentary: “There are some spoofs you can only laugh at seven, eight years later.”
Some of the jokes are a bit vulgar:
At the end of a meeting, Wang Qishan [who heads the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection] said suddenly, “After today’s meeting, there are two people who will have to stay behind!”
He then took a sip of water, lowered his head and looked at a list of names. There was complete silence in the room, and gradually the smell of urine filled the air.
Wang spoke again: “These two people, one is an executive at a state-owned enterprise, the other is a government official.”
Then he stopped again. Gradually the stench in the room worsened.
Finally, he said slowly, one word at a time: “These two people are Xu Jianyi of China FAW Group and Qiu He of the Yunnan provincial government. Those two stay. Everyone else can leave.”
After they left, the room was a mess. Wang told his deputies: “Comrades, if I can trouble you. Check the waste matter on the floor, and match it with the seating chart.”
“Secretary Wang,” said a deputy, “there was one who seemed to have left quite a bit more, Liao Yongyuan of PetroChina.”
Wang lifted his hand: “Investigate him.”
Last year, an article in the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection’s newspaper analyzed the tradition of political jokes in the Soviet Union, saying they reflected how the Communist Party in that country had failed to protect the interests of the people. The article called on cadres not to fall into such a trap, and cited a joke to show that China’s Communists were not about to collapse as their Soviet brethren did:
A Ukrainian got a phone call from a K.G.B. officer, who asked, “Why do you get so many packages from Israel?”
The Ukrainian replied, “During World War II, I sheltered a Jew, and now he sends me food.”
The officer replied that a Soviet citizen should not do such a thing. “Have you thought about your future?”
“I have,” the Ukrainian replied. “Next time, I plan to shelter a Chinese.”
Mia Li contributed research.