China’s Construction Crackdown: No New State Buildings for 5 Years

[mota bhai 2,675]

The Tea Party comes to China.

Yesterday, however, Beijing announced a state-backed countermeasure aimed at clearing up misconceptions about the government’s own construction spree. Henceforth, a five year ban will be in place on projects for any and all government buildings. It seems that the ban was announced to send a message to the public, suggesting that the government is taking a bite out of corruption which often manifests in steel-and-glass form.

“Across China, grand government buildings with oversized offices and fancy lighting including chandeliers have mushroomed in many cities,” AP noted. “They are often among the most impressive buildings in their own towns, drawing disapproval from the public.”

State-owned media agency Xinhua listed some of the most widely recognized monumental sources of frivolous government spending, among them official buildings, training centers, and hotels meant to house officials on the go.

“Some office buildings use up a lot of money, there are operating costs and a lot of money is spent on people eating and drinking which all comes from government funds, so it's a kind of corruption,” said Liu Shanying, a politics researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

...

Opulent official buildings often embody state excesses and highlight the public-official gap in the poorest areas. The Telegraph noted one such building in Anhui province covered an area larger than the U.S. Pentagon, while a building in Jiangxi province houses a $45 million mechanical clock tower. Photos leaked of a state-owned drug company that erected a complex modeled after King Louis XIV’s Palace of Versailles, featuring gold-tinted walls and chandeliers

http://thediplomat.com/china-power/chinas-construction-crackdown-no-new-state-buildings-for-5-years/

[Darnell 8,479]

Eh - The netizens in China love to do 'body-search' and expose corruption - they've been getting really good at the last 2 years, finding photographs of CCP folk living opulent lifestyles and taking bribes.

In China, that type of exposure (by the Netizens) can get a CCP official killed in some back-alley. CCP high ranking cadre have gotten smart, and picked the ONE thing they can reduce without compromising on the scheduled graft and corruption already headed their way.

Tea Party? No la - They want, simply, to keep breathing. That's really the only way to get rid of a high-ranking official - someone actually kills em.

[Jacque67 7,328]

China is a fascinating country.