Opinion | A nod and a wink can get officials far
Central government leaders may have the best intentions when they hold inspection tours, but everyone involved knows it's just for show
As the new leadership under President Xi Jinping steps up its anti-corruption campaign, hardly a week goes by without the announcement of a senior central or local government official being detained or jailed on corruption charges.
So it came as little surprise when anti-graft investigators announced in June that Ni Fake, who was serving as deputy governor of Anhui province, had been placed under investigation for "serious violations of discipline", a euphemism for corruption.
The mainland media played up Ni's story not because of the amount of bribery involved but because of his ties to a well-known scandal in which an elaborate show was staged to deceive the then premier Zhu Rongji 15 years ago.
In 1998, shortly after taking over as premier, Zhu went to inspect grain procurement in Nanling county under Wuhu in Anhui, as part of his first trip outside Beijing. At the time, the county was reluctant to procure and store rice because of the then misguided central government policy that required local officials to buy rice from farmers at a pre-set price.
As the government rate was higher than the market one, local authorities were required to make up the difference, which meant the more they bought, the more subsidies they needed to provide, making it difficult for them to pay the salaries of all their employees.
Upon learning of Zhu's intention to inspect one particular granary that was empty, Nanling officials decided to transfer more than 1,000 tonnes of rice from other counties, organising about 200 people to work four days and nights to ensure the granary was brimming with rice.
