Chen Xitong
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Chen Xitong (陈希同) (born June 1930) was a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China and the Mayor of Beijing until he was removed from office on charges of corruption in 1995. A graduate of Peking University, he shared close ties to Deng Xiaoping and his family. Chen was once considered a possible successor to Deng Xiaoping.
Chen Xitong was the Mayor of Beijing during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. He strongly advocated the use of force to quell the protests, and was responsible for the declaration of martial law in Beijing during the incident.
A onetime rival to Jiang Zemin, Chen's downfall came in 1995 during an anti-corruption campaign led by Jiang's Shanghai clique. Clique members Zeng Qinghong and Jia Qinglin played key roles in the campaign that eventually led to Chen's arrest; some observers view Chen's downfall as a political struggle between Chen and Jiang. In the wake of the charges, Chen's Vice Mayor, Wang Baosen, committed suicide. In 1998, Chen Xitong was given a 16 year jail sentence on charges of corruption and dereliction of duty. His son, Chen Xiaotong, was also sentenced. Chen was released early from jail in 2006, officially due to reasons of ill health.
[edit] A Chinese Novelist's Take on the Chen Xitong Case
The Chen Xitong corruption case the novel The Wrath of God -- the Anti-Corruption Bureau in Action 天怒 -- 反贪局在行动[1] published in 1996 by the Yuanfang Publishing House of Inner Mongolia and quickly banned in China is a fictionalized account of the Chen Xitong case written from the point of a view of an investigator. The title of the book is often translated as "The Wrath of Heaven".
In the novel, The Wrath of God, a corrupt official says this about Chinese investigations of corrupt officials:
"Don't worry, I'm not the Anti-Corruption Bureau. The anti-corruption campaign makes a lot of thunder these days and quite a bit of rain. But rainstorms always come to an end. Once we are past the dangerous part of the storm, there will still be a lot of thunder, but less rain. And then after a while you won't hear any thunder at all. Anti-corruption work cannot be done thoroughly because more than just a few people are involved. The historical conditions are completely different from the March 5 (3-5) case for which Liu Qingshan and Zhang Zishan were executed. Can we allow the era of opening and reform to remove us from power and replace us with the capitalist classes? That absolutely wouldn't work. One more point. We can't push the anti-corruption campaign indefinitely. For who else can the regime depend upon for support but the great masses of middle level cadres? If they are not given some advantages, why should they dedicate themselves to the regime? They give their strong and unwavering support to the regime because they get benefits from the system. Corruption makes our political system more stable."
"How can Chinese officials compare with Hong Kong officials? Can they compare with Taiwan officials? Or with the officials of the developed countries? The salaries of public officials in foreign countries are dozens or even more than a hundred times higher than the salaries of Chinese officials. Moreover, a long anti-corruption campaign would expose the dark side of the Communist Party. If many of these things were to be exposed, the masses would lose their faith in the Chinese Communist Party. Who could accept the historic responsibility for doing this? "
"But we can't not have an anti-corruption campaign. Not only will the masses not allow us not to do anti-corruption work but the State itself could fall as corruption deepens. Therefore, if we don't do anti-corruption work, the State will collapse. If we fight corruption, the Party will fall; if we do not fight corruption the State will fall. We are stuck between a rock and a hard place; we can only fight corruption for a time and then let up for a while. This is the only way to save both the Party and the State. We try to survive and develop within the cracks of a policy that is constantly wavering between the left and the right. "
[edit] References
- ^ "The Wrath of God -- the Anti-Corruption Bureau in Action" (Tiannu Fantanju Zai Xingdong), by Fang Wen [psuedonymn]. Hohhot, December 1996, Yuanfang Chubanshe. Printed January 1997 press run of 5000 copies. ISBN 7-80595-271-X/1 120. Many pirate copies were printed.
