Party in China doesn’t have honest comrades, so it invents one

Li gets off free because he was unaware of any of the corruption around him and the film ends with him taking care of his retarded son, alone.

The government has launched a massive propaganda campaign to promote the film and ordered party officials across the country to see it. Government departments have also set aside time and bought tickets for the workers, and almost every state-owned newspaper has given wide coverage to the story, and not just in the entertainment section.

The film is a desperate attempt by the government to rebuild confidence in the Communist Party, which is perceived to be rotten from top to bottom with rampant corruption that has been exposed in a series of scandals. The sight of junior officials drawing small salaries but driving around in top-of-the-range cars and dining at expensive restaurants is commonplace.

But director Yu Benzheng, who admits the plot was cooked up by the government, said the film does not paint a desperate picture. “Corruption means there are people in the government who are corrupt but the government is not corrupt. This film will give confidence to the people,” he insisted. But critics say corruption is so institutionalised that using popular entertainment to try and purify cadre is a waste of time.

“To fight corruption, you must get the government’s hand out of the market. As long as government officials have the power to interfere in the market, you won’t be able to stamp out corruption,” said prominent dissident Bao Tong. Bao was the secretary of former party chief Zhao Ziyang, and the pair were the most senior officials to be punished over the 1989 pro-democracy protests rooted in anger over widespread official corruption.

Li follows in the footsteps of a series of fictional heroes promoted by the Party, beginning with Lei Feng, the selfless and Party-loving soldier of the 1960s and Kong Fansen, the simple cadre who died devoting his life to helping China “develop” Tibet in the late 1980s. The earlier heroes were real people whose deeds were exaggerated but Li is just a figment of imagination. “They can’t find a real one,” said Bao.

As the party approaches its 80th anniversary next year, corruption has become so widespread that President Jiang Zemin calls it the “life and death” struggle for the Party. And the movie’s title is in fact a “life and death decision”. As part of the government’s public efforts to get tough on graft, it has set up a corruption exhibition in Beijing, displaying gold watches and other luxury items confiscated from corrupt officials. It has also passed a death sentence on Cheng Kejie, former vice chairperson of China’s parliament, for embezzling $ 4.9 million.

Yet, critics complain the very top echelons of the leadership are being spared. Director Yu declined to say what Mayor Li would have done had he discovered corruption at the highest level of government. “It’s just a story. I don’t want to comment on hypothetical situations,” said Yu.

The government still keeps a tight leash on who is allowed to expose corruption in case they come up with unwanted surprises. It has prevented writer Chen Fang from publishing his book about the case of former Beijing party secretary Chen Xitong, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison for graft. And last week, it shut down a publishing house for printing a book exposing the practice of buying and selling government posts.