Ghost writers hope to cash in as Chinese officials pushed to write 5,000-word reports on their missteps
Taobao vendors see a gold mine in president's renewed push for self-criticism sessions to improve discipline among cadres
President Xi Jinping’s order to revive the Communist Party’s decades-old “criticism and self-criticism” sessions has given rise to a new online business: ghost-writing lengthy self-critiques.
At so-called party-life meetings, cadres are asked to evaluate the things they need to improve on in their work or lives so they can serve the people better. The sessions aim to fix party problems and enforce discipline.
Xi’s push aims to encourage party officials to follow the “mass line”, stressing a close connection with the grass-roots.
Officials must write self-criticism statements that are often required to be at least 3,000 to 5,000 words long – sometimes reaching longer than 10,000 words.
Officials say they spend days cautiously writing it. But some ghost-writers are claiming they can churn an article overnight.
I saw it on TV that officials are all writing this criticism article, so I just want to try it
On China’s biggest e-commerce site Taobao, there are at least six outfits – out of 4,800 ghost-writing agencies there – that cater to officials in the government and state-owned enterprises.