NewAuthor lends encouragement to anti-corruption drive
Ling Jiefang, who writes historical novels under a pen name, says CCDI should promote traditional family values in its fight
A mainland author of popular historical novels is helping China’s top anti-graft watchdog in its efforts to promote its wide-ranging investigation into corrupt officials.
Ling Jiefang, best known for books about Qing dynasty emperors written using the pen name Er Yue He, made remarks in the first part of the commission’s anti-graft interview series, Listen to the Masters.
One of the favourite writers of the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) secretary Wang Qishan, Ling said the commission should make greater use of traditional family values, such as loyalty, to help fight corruption. The power of those values could well provide inner strength for a high-ranking official who is tempted by it, he said.
CCDI officials visited Ling twice in Henan earlier this month, and the resulting video interview has been available on the commission’s website since Tuesday.
One of his main themes was the “unprincipled worship of power” – something deeply rooted in Chinese history – which he called an “important factor” in corruption.
“Corruption is a social issue, and we should not tie it to any political system,” Ling said. He added that a “comparatively centralised” political system could root out corruption, as long as it is led by wise top officials. Every country faces the issue regardless of its ideology.