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‘A toddler could write this’: Chinese policeman’s book, praised by authorities, is ridiculed
- Investigation and apologies over ‘intellectual’ officer’s book, which provincial government and state media had said was recommended reading
- Sharing of the book’s repetitive content leads to online debate about unthinking praise for officials
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A book written by a top Chinese police officer is being investigated after it provoked national ridicule for its repetitive and rudimentary content.
The 336-page Ping’an Jing, or Peace Mantra, this week prompted a rare open public debate about officialdom after photographs of its content started to circulate online. Published last December, it was penned by He Dian, the second most powerful officer in the public security department in the northeastern province of Jilin, whom the force has described as an intellectual.
A chapter titled “Let China’s railway stations be safe” reads: “Let Beijing Railway Station be safe, let Xi’an Railway Station be safe, let Zhengzhou Railway Station be safe, let Shanghai’s Hongqiao Railway Station be safe …”
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Yet despite its content, the book was endorsed and recommended by a long list of local government offices and Communist Party-approved groups after being cleared for publication by the state-controlled publishing watchdog.
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How China censors the internet
How China censors the internet
The province’s department of emergency management had said on social media that the book was “worth a read”. Jilin’s Recital Association, a state-led group, held a seminar last month about the book, featuring more than a dozen local scholars and poets.
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