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Yang Dacai never thought he would be vilified by the public, but his taste for expensive watches became the target of outrage on the Internet.
It started with a picture: 55-year-old Yang, head of the Bureau of Work Safety of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, grins in front of the wreckage of a double-decker sleeper bus that rammed into a methanol-loaded tanker on August 26. Thirty-six people died.
The picture triggered an online manhunt when it was posted. Yang was soon identified and was widely criticized for being rough-hearted toward the deceased. Unexpectedly, netizens also took photographic inventory of the accessories Yang had been seen wearing at public events in the following days.
Yang was found to own at least five luxury watches of brands including Rolex, Mont Blanc and Radar seen in pictures of Yang on other occasions. Netizens also identified his bracelets and glasses as considerably expensive.
How could a provincial bureau head afford all these expensive items? Calls grew for supervisory departments to launch a corruption investigation.
On August 29, Yang faced hordes in a live chat on Weibo, China’s answer to Twitter, saying the reason for his grin at the scene of the accident was to raise morale. He claimed his watches were purchased with own income and that he often swaps watches with his son, who Yang said shares his affection for pricey timepieces.
Yang may have been one of the first government officials to use social media to handle a public relations crisis, but it wasn’t enough for netizens. On August 30, photographs of Yang wearing four other watches appeared online. The Shaanxi Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China(CPC) started investigating Yang on the same day, saying Yang would be punished if he is found to have committed corruption.
Morris Gao, a respected watch expert with the online Watchstore Forum (watchstore. com.cn) said that conservative estimates place the nine watches together at a cost of more than 300,000 yuan ($47,460). “Owning such a collection of luxury watches seems over the top for a government official,” Gao said.
“It drew the attention of so many people because more people are concerned about the transparency of officials’ assets,” said Sun Duofei, COO at 5lux.com, a Chinese website that sells luxury products.
Making earnings public
“Most Web users do not really care about the actual number or value of these watches,” watch connoisseur and blogger Huazong told the Beijing-published Global Times. “What they need is just a channel to vent their anger over corruption.”
Huazong, a businessman in Shenzhen, southern Guangdong Province, started compiling photographs of the fancy watches worn by officials in July 2011. Since then, Huazong has appraised the timepieces of more than 300 officials and found that many of them had more than three famous-brand watches. His enthusiasm waned after eliciting only one official reply after 90 posts.
“Currently, most officials report the details of their assets only to the authorities, a method that has already proven to be ineffective,” said Wang Quanjie, a deputy to the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature, in 2003-08 and a professor at Yantai University in eastern Shandong Province. Wang has campaigned for the publication of officials’ assets since 2004.
The Chinese Government and the CPC Central Committee issued two regulations in 1995 and 2001, requiring officials to declare their income. But the reports were limited to officials’ salary and subsidies, with the information unavailable to the public or the media.
That changed on January 1, 2009, when the local government of Altay Prefecture in northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region announced that the incomes of more than 1,000 county and district officials would be posted online annually starting that year.
Altay is the first region in China to show officials’ income and assets to the public. Wu Weiping, Secretary of the Altay Prefectural Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC, initiated the program. “The aim is clear and simple—to put official’s personal assets under supervision to prevent corruption,” Wu said.
The information made public includes the officials’ annual salaries, subsidies and other income from activities such as giving lectures and authoring books related to their work. Valuable gifts from job-related organizations or individuals given to them or other family members should all be made public. Income from stock holdings, inheritance and lotteries as well as any fixed assets of more than 100,000 yuan ($15,822) are still restricted from public view.
On January 1, 2009, the income of 55 newly appointed officials in Altay were posted online. By March 2009, more than 1,000 officials’ incomes had been publicized.
Altay’s move was followed by quite a few other cities including Cixi in eastern Zhejiang Province, Liuyang in central Hunan Province and Qingtongxia in northwestern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
In January, more than 600 officials in Jiawang District, Xuzhou in eastern Jiangsu Province, were required to declare their personal assets, including property ownership, savings and investment and those of their spouses and children. By August, all the information had been uploaded to the local government’s official website.
“Jiawang District has made great progress in practicing property declaration,” said Lin Zhe, a professor of anti-corruption research at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee. “It’s better to encourage officials to declare property first and then develop related mechanisms for audits and supervision.”
Monitoring system
Zhang Qiuyue, Director of the CPC Commission for Discipline Inspection of Jiawang, revealed that among the more than 600 officials declaring assets, only four admitted to having more than one apartment and the rest all said that they have only one apartment and zero investment.
But the public is skeptical of the information. “I think some officials conceal their assets. The declaration system will have a credibility crisis if the information uploaded is untrue,” said Hou Changdong, a resident in Jiawang, who said that some officials allegedly have more than one apartment.
“The officials’ declarations were not verified before they were put on the Internet,”Zhang said. He pledged that those who con- ceal their assets will be punished according to Party discipline after being reported and verified.
“The lack of a developed credit system is a major obstacle to the establishment of officials’ property declaration system,” said Li Yongzhong, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Disciplinary Inspection and Supervision, which is run by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the CPC, the Party’s top anti-graft body.“All the pilot programs were initiated by local governments. That will mean less supervisory power.”
On March 26, Premier Wen Jiabao expressed his determination to publicize assets of officials at the State Council’s annual conference on anti-corruption work.
“Corruption tends to occur frequently in departments that possess great power and in areas where the management of funds is centralized. Corruption cases involving stateowned enterprises and high-level officials are still serious,” Wen said.
Wen called for tighter supervision and discipline over officials, especially those whose spouses and children have gone to live overseas. Besides, he said that the money spent on overseas trips, receptions and vehicle purchases and maintenance by government officials should also be strictly scrutinized.
“Public funds should never be allowed to buy cigarettes, high-end wines and gifts. The use of government vehicles and construction of government office buildings should also be strictly managed. Luxurious buildings or decorations will be prohibited. The number of ceremonies, forums and conferences should be controlled,” Wen said.
In 2010, the CCDI released a regulation requiring top-level officials to submit reports of their property assets and investment activities as well as the jobs of their spouses and children to disciplinary bodies. However, the authorities have decided not to release the information to the public.
The regulation replaced previous guidelines released in 1995 and 2006, which did not cover specific details including the submission of property owned by officials’ spouses and children.
Han Deyun, a Chongqing-based lawyer and NPC deputy, has submitted motions at NPC annual full sessions for seven consecutive years, proposing legislation that would require government officials to disclose their assets and show how they earned them.
“At the bottom level, arousing enthusiasm among the public is also necessary, in a bid to ensure appropriate supervision for the launch and implementation of the system,” Han said.
It started with a picture: 55-year-old Yang, head of the Bureau of Work Safety of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, grins in front of the wreckage of a double-decker sleeper bus that rammed into a methanol-loaded tanker on August 26. Thirty-six people died.
The picture triggered an online manhunt when it was posted. Yang was soon identified and was widely criticized for being rough-hearted toward the deceased. Unexpectedly, netizens also took photographic inventory of the accessories Yang had been seen wearing at public events in the following days.
Yang was found to own at least five luxury watches of brands including Rolex, Mont Blanc and Radar seen in pictures of Yang on other occasions. Netizens also identified his bracelets and glasses as considerably expensive.
How could a provincial bureau head afford all these expensive items? Calls grew for supervisory departments to launch a corruption investigation.
On August 29, Yang faced hordes in a live chat on Weibo, China’s answer to Twitter, saying the reason for his grin at the scene of the accident was to raise morale. He claimed his watches were purchased with own income and that he often swaps watches with his son, who Yang said shares his affection for pricey timepieces.
Yang may have been one of the first government officials to use social media to handle a public relations crisis, but it wasn’t enough for netizens. On August 30, photographs of Yang wearing four other watches appeared online. The Shaanxi Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China(CPC) started investigating Yang on the same day, saying Yang would be punished if he is found to have committed corruption.
Morris Gao, a respected watch expert with the online Watchstore Forum (watchstore. com.cn) said that conservative estimates place the nine watches together at a cost of more than 300,000 yuan ($47,460). “Owning such a collection of luxury watches seems over the top for a government official,” Gao said.
“It drew the attention of so many people because more people are concerned about the transparency of officials’ assets,” said Sun Duofei, COO at 5lux.com, a Chinese website that sells luxury products.
Making earnings public
“Most Web users do not really care about the actual number or value of these watches,” watch connoisseur and blogger Huazong told the Beijing-published Global Times. “What they need is just a channel to vent their anger over corruption.”
Huazong, a businessman in Shenzhen, southern Guangdong Province, started compiling photographs of the fancy watches worn by officials in July 2011. Since then, Huazong has appraised the timepieces of more than 300 officials and found that many of them had more than three famous-brand watches. His enthusiasm waned after eliciting only one official reply after 90 posts.
“Currently, most officials report the details of their assets only to the authorities, a method that has already proven to be ineffective,” said Wang Quanjie, a deputy to the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature, in 2003-08 and a professor at Yantai University in eastern Shandong Province. Wang has campaigned for the publication of officials’ assets since 2004.
The Chinese Government and the CPC Central Committee issued two regulations in 1995 and 2001, requiring officials to declare their income. But the reports were limited to officials’ salary and subsidies, with the information unavailable to the public or the media.
That changed on January 1, 2009, when the local government of Altay Prefecture in northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region announced that the incomes of more than 1,000 county and district officials would be posted online annually starting that year.
Altay is the first region in China to show officials’ income and assets to the public. Wu Weiping, Secretary of the Altay Prefectural Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC, initiated the program. “The aim is clear and simple—to put official’s personal assets under supervision to prevent corruption,” Wu said.
The information made public includes the officials’ annual salaries, subsidies and other income from activities such as giving lectures and authoring books related to their work. Valuable gifts from job-related organizations or individuals given to them or other family members should all be made public. Income from stock holdings, inheritance and lotteries as well as any fixed assets of more than 100,000 yuan ($15,822) are still restricted from public view.
On January 1, 2009, the income of 55 newly appointed officials in Altay were posted online. By March 2009, more than 1,000 officials’ incomes had been publicized.
Altay’s move was followed by quite a few other cities including Cixi in eastern Zhejiang Province, Liuyang in central Hunan Province and Qingtongxia in northwestern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
In January, more than 600 officials in Jiawang District, Xuzhou in eastern Jiangsu Province, were required to declare their personal assets, including property ownership, savings and investment and those of their spouses and children. By August, all the information had been uploaded to the local government’s official website.
“Jiawang District has made great progress in practicing property declaration,” said Lin Zhe, a professor of anti-corruption research at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee. “It’s better to encourage officials to declare property first and then develop related mechanisms for audits and supervision.”
Monitoring system
Zhang Qiuyue, Director of the CPC Commission for Discipline Inspection of Jiawang, revealed that among the more than 600 officials declaring assets, only four admitted to having more than one apartment and the rest all said that they have only one apartment and zero investment.
But the public is skeptical of the information. “I think some officials conceal their assets. The declaration system will have a credibility crisis if the information uploaded is untrue,” said Hou Changdong, a resident in Jiawang, who said that some officials allegedly have more than one apartment.
“The officials’ declarations were not verified before they were put on the Internet,”Zhang said. He pledged that those who con- ceal their assets will be punished according to Party discipline after being reported and verified.
“The lack of a developed credit system is a major obstacle to the establishment of officials’ property declaration system,” said Li Yongzhong, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Disciplinary Inspection and Supervision, which is run by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the CPC, the Party’s top anti-graft body.“All the pilot programs were initiated by local governments. That will mean less supervisory power.”
On March 26, Premier Wen Jiabao expressed his determination to publicize assets of officials at the State Council’s annual conference on anti-corruption work.
“Corruption tends to occur frequently in departments that possess great power and in areas where the management of funds is centralized. Corruption cases involving stateowned enterprises and high-level officials are still serious,” Wen said.
Wen called for tighter supervision and discipline over officials, especially those whose spouses and children have gone to live overseas. Besides, he said that the money spent on overseas trips, receptions and vehicle purchases and maintenance by government officials should also be strictly scrutinized.
“Public funds should never be allowed to buy cigarettes, high-end wines and gifts. The use of government vehicles and construction of government office buildings should also be strictly managed. Luxurious buildings or decorations will be prohibited. The number of ceremonies, forums and conferences should be controlled,” Wen said.
In 2010, the CCDI released a regulation requiring top-level officials to submit reports of their property assets and investment activities as well as the jobs of their spouses and children to disciplinary bodies. However, the authorities have decided not to release the information to the public.
The regulation replaced previous guidelines released in 1995 and 2006, which did not cover specific details including the submission of property owned by officials’ spouses and children.
Han Deyun, a Chongqing-based lawyer and NPC deputy, has submitted motions at NPC annual full sessions for seven consecutive years, proposing legislation that would require government officials to disclose their assets and show how they earned them.
“At the bottom level, arousing enthusiasm among the public is also necessary, in a bid to ensure appropriate supervision for the launch and implementation of the system,” Han said.