A sex slave scandal, a gutter oil factory, beatings and murders – its been a bad few weeks for the city of Luoyang in China. But not for the Chinese media’s image.
I strongly recommend setting up a Google News alert for the Chinese city of Luoyang. The city in central Henan Province, one of China’s ancient capitals, has been a magnet for scandals over the past few weeks, becoming the centre of national attention repeatedly following a string of food safety revelations, murders, kidnappings, police misconduct and the arrest of an official accused of keeping six women imprisoned in a makeshift dungeon as sex slaves for almost two years.
The stories also demonstrate the odd intersection of press freedom and local authority that characterizes investigative reporting in China.
The string of astonishingly bad press began on September 15 with an investigation by local media that uncovered a gutter oil factory, a plant which illegally gathered and resold cooking oil from gutters near restaurants. The story shocked an already food-wary public. The journalist who produced the report, Li Xiang, was violently murdered six days after it appeared.
Meanwhile, Luoyang police were investigating the case of Li Hao, an official at Luoyang’s Quality and Technological Supervision Bureau accused of holding six women in a basement as sex slaves and murdering two. Police say that he raped the women repeatedly and forced them to act in pornography he sold over the internet; two were taken out to be used as prostitutes. Two of the women, who the survivors say resisted his demands, were killed, their bodies found by police in shallow graves in the basement’s earth floor.
Police learned of the case on September 9, but local newspapers were forbidden to report on the arrest by city officials, who apparently feared it would endanger the city’s bid for a national ‘Civilized City’ award. However, a journalist from Southern Metropolis Daily, one of China’s most respected outlets for investigative journalism, learned of the case from local policemen while in the city to report on Li Xiang’s murder, bringing the story to national attention. Luoyang’s police chief apparently took the revelation as an embarrassment, apologizing for failing to discover the dungeon sooner.
The second reporter, Ji Xuguang, also suffered retaliation for his work, as two men followed him into his hotel and told him to lay off the story. Ji said that the men claimed to be government authorities and told him that he had betrayed ‘state secrets’ with his report, demanding that he reveal his sources. Ji, understandably frightened, made an appeal for public attention on the Chinese microblog service Weibo and through his newspaper, and escaped from the city at night, carrying a knife for protection.
Even as this story broke, widely covered by national media, Luoyang authorities had another major instance of misconduct to explain: the kidnapping and beating of a local tourist in Beijing after he was mistaken for a petitioner planning to file complaints with the central government. Such kidnappings are common practice among provincial governments, but this case attracted special attention for the mistaken identity of the victim.
These cases are a spectacular example of the corruption widespread in China’s smaller cities – and Luoyang, with an urban population of 1.5 million, is hardly the smallest or most remote – and also demonstrate some of the major problems with press freedom in China. Ji Xuguang is very clearly not The Guardian’s next Ai Weiwei – far from being suppressed by the state’s censorship apparatus, his story, along with the others mentioned here, has been extensively covered by the Chinese mainstream media. In fact, if you click on the link about the local officials who threatened Ji, you'll see that it leads to a story not only printed but translated into English by the semi-official People’s Daily.
So I’m surprised to see Ji’s story being reported as another example of the Chinese state cracking down on the freedom of speech, and the efforts to intimidate him being misreported in English as detention or even jail time. On the contrary, both cases seem to belong to a thuggish and desperate effort to control PR fallout by local interests. That national papers, including People’s Daily and the official Xinhua news agency have covered the stories shows very clearly that the officials involved lack the kind of high-level protection it takes to get stories suppressed by the state’s censorship authorities.
This is an important distinction: while journalists in Luoyang encountered serious problems – murder, intimidation, and a clampdown on local coverage of the Li Hao story that succeeded for two weeks – they were local responses that posed little difficulty for a national paper like Southern Metropolis. The story here is less 1984 than Deliverance – in the absence of effective central oversight, much of China is governed by almost feudal networks of patronage and protection, no more answerable to Beijing than it is to the public.
Photo Credit: James Jin
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David Cowhig
Thank you for the fine article. China is often more a loose coalition of little brothers than one Big Brother, though the little brothers are Big Brothers in their own domains. http://www.cecc.gov/pages/roundtables/041502/cowhig.php
The Luoyang case illustrates the fact that in China it is often better to read the papers in province Y to get the dirt on province X since orders from the province X propaganda department aren’t binding on the media in province Y.
Party propaganda departments exist at all levels of Party committees, so the provinces, cities and counties will have them and issue their own instructions to the media to protect local interests and officials along with those issued by the central committee’s propaganda department. Sometimes the disreputable deeds of localities are line with the center, sometimes they are done on their own initiative. Where the central authorities are unable to impose themselves easily, they often prefer that this not be known so that people will not doubt the center’s power.
Some Chinese talk about the four groups (sige banzi) in each locality (the Party committee, the local government, and the local people’s congress and the local consultative congress) as the power center there. Most but not all are Party members but all are part of the local oligarchy.
jeff forsythe
There are no human rights in Communist China. The cruel Party has murdered 80 million of its own people since 1949.
Another good example of how the Party loves its people was on the TV News the other night. The tobacco industry in China has now focused its attention on school children, telling them how smoking can improve their talents, and wouldn’t you know it, the industry is owned and operated by the Chinese Communist Party.
The Party is attempting the genocide of tens of millions of innocent Falun Gong.
One doctor just left China confessing that he had performed more than one thousand cornea removal operations on living donors, including children.
How can anyone with half a heart even think of doing business with a monster like this ?
The Communist Party controls every business in Mainland China, no exceptions. Wake up World.
Huang
Each and everyone of the “china devil,China evil” you mentioned in your post were covered in the news medias of the West for over two decades now. As far as the alleged and/or fabricated statements made by a number of dissidents who left China on reasons few bothered to dip deeper into,it seems after two decades of realistic wares and tears(the tests of time),most of those allegations have turned out to be false and non other than an attack directed at the Chinese political stability.
Furthermore,I do not believe any government in the World intend to do harm to their own population with the exceptions of the few resorted to extreme measures to maintain their controls(all eventually succumbed to their own doings).
China is not perfect,un-intended mistakes and the laspsed of judgements on any components of the governance body do exist- whats important are the ability to recognize and tacklling the issues as they manifest and not the finger pointings.
bill rich
“I do not believe” ? So what you are saying is a religious doctrine ? And we all know that believing is trusting things unknown as facts, we all understand what you really meant. As personal observers of these events, I am sorry for your deep faith.
Tomas
Naivety has no end. You will be surprised once the caves full of dead bodies start telling their stories, but than it will be too late.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_killings_under_Communist_regimes
Eric Jones
China needs to open more up the freedom of press. The press will help to shape government’s policies to meet the majority of people need. More importantly, to make things becoming more transparents.
Aogin
I hope the CCP can put law an order back. They should not let corruption and misconduct of local officials and Central Party officials go unpunished. This will leave a bad taste about China and the Chinese people. CCP is meant to serve the Chinese people and not the other way around. It should be the same for all the Government bodies around the world. I hope CCP can set an example and clean up it’s ranks.
a_canadian_observer
@Aogin: I commend your noble wish, but I will bet you that it will not come true with the CCP.
Aogin
I understand what you mean.
Huang
These crimes exist in almost every country on the face of this earth. As for China,there was a saying ” China has both the best-of-the-bests and the worst-of-all-the worsts” and thisphrase has been around for quite a long time ago. Any good/evil deeds one can think of,its been done by someone in China at one time or another.
The extend of autonomy the central government granted or delegated authorities to the provincial and city level carry with them both the positive and negative effect to the over-all social environment. On the positive side, the provincial governor has sufficient space or autonomy to run his day-to-day business the way he knows best. By the same token,if the provincial governor turns out to be a bad apple,the results would not be pretty. The phrase “the mountains are high and the emperor is far away” is unfortunately applicable to the present political and social structures of China. The captain,along with his qualified subordinates is key to the ideal direction the ship is sailing.
China’s problems are unique to China’s distinct complexities and values. In this case,the Chinese press(official or not)are gradually having more autonomy to play an important role of raising awareness to certain social developnments.
Finally, I believe the next likely problem facing China will be the effects and ramifications of the “one-child-policy” implimented over three decades now.
What effects does it have on the family unit?
How would the only child in the family unit affect the individual growing up without siblings?
How would China and its cultural characteristics affected by this economic policy by populations controls?
How would the dis-parity in the number of boys and girls born affecting China’s future outlooks and directions toward neighboring countries?
These and much much more will soon be felt by the leadersip and the people in the very near future.
What will be the long term effects to China culturally,socially,and
shen liang
@huang
Why do you still think “The heavens are high and the emperor is far away” is still applicable to modern day China?
Do we not have cars? Planes? Phones? Internet connections? A central government run PAP? A central government run set of overseers?
Do we still have an emperor?
This type of attitude befuddles me. I think we have to face it, many crimes are done at the local level, especially the arrest and beating of journalists, with either the governments tacit approval or tolerance.
Huang
Authorities delegated down to the provincial levels should remain intact. Whats needed are more central over-sights and strict disciplines be applied to all wrong do-ers(party members and non-party-members alike). Some grivances villagers thought can only be resolved fairly and lawfully by a trip a the capital is one example of why the people think the “Emperor is far away”.
In the age of information and the “light speed” at which news can travel, the people and the government alike are face new benifits and challenges. The government MUST be able to adapt to every new and un-foreseen developnments(mindful and recognizing informations being circulated on the web can be good and bad social stability). For an ordinary citizen, it is a small price to pay to maintain the over-all environment on the continued progress and gradual increase in liberty(remember,can only exist in a calm social environment).
yang zi
the last 10 years has been in action. the Hu/Wen combination is the weakest leadership. of CCP. China need bold leaders, not mediocre ones. hope next batch is better. I have my hopes on Bo xilai, I am doubtful about Xi jinping. Bo xilai can make some waves
bill rich
So you are going to vote for Bo Xilai in the coming election, or you are just going to let your leaders crown XI, even you are doubtful about him ?
shen liang
The statement made by the author at the end of the article is simplistic. The central government has always used local governments to do its dirty work. This is one of the oldest traditions of governance in imperial China, dating back to Han Fei’s model the Qin adopted. By letting the local governments abuse citizens, the central government allows for the strongest discipline to be implemented while distancing itself from the potential resentment caused by such incidents. Plus, this leaves citizens with few other avenues for the redress of grievances other than ingrating themselves to the central government. If it appears beneficial for the central government to get involved, it can even rush in to appease the people. It is a ploy so obvious and so clearly explained in old writings that I’m saddened so few people ever see through it.
While the central govenment and local governments interests are at times incompatible, they are far more often assist each other even to carry out heinous acts. That is how the system works.
As for these incidents, most Chinese unfortunately think lower of Henan people than they do of any other people on earth. By reporting on Henan problems which require the central government to get involved, the media is not being courageous and the central government is not being liberal. They know where the Chinese people will turn to seek redress. What they mean to say is that we’d all become like Henan people if the central government was weak. But that just forces us to ask how is it that these things are happening in Henan if the central government is strong? When can we expect it to stop?
bill rich
“This is how the system works” If you want to call that working, it’s your funeral. I just hope that all Chinese think it is working too, just like you. It is great to have people misjudging the effectiveness of their own government. People of most countries don’t have such high opinion on their own government.