The Washington Post
In a country that has perfected the art of imitation, Li Guangnian was just another copy: a fake official with a fake organization peddling a false promise — of credibility and contacts, according to people who worked with and encountered him.
He had the swagger and the trappings of a senior party cadre, and a natural authority that made him hard to contradict. The walls of his office in the heart of the Chinese capital were adorned with photographs of him next to retired generals and government officials. He drove a top-of-the-range Audi and a Mercedes-Benz, and, in his 50s, had an 18-year-old mistress.
All over China, a country where the bureaucracy fills almost every available space with myriad organizations and where unimaginable sums of money can be made if you just know the right people, growing ranks of swindlers are peddling the ultimate currency — influence with the political elite.
“China has too big a government, with too much power, and everything relies on the government. Those who can, rely on officials; those who can’t, swindle.” ~Zhang Ming, a political science professor at Renmin University
In a country that has perfected the art of imitation, Li Guangnian was just another copy: a fake official with a fake organization peddling a false promise — of credibility and contacts, according to people who worked with and encountered him.
He had the swagger and the trappings of a senior party cadre, and a natural authority that made him hard to contradict. The walls of his office in the heart of the Chinese capital were adorned with photographs of him next to retired generals and government officials. He drove a top-of-the-range Audi and a Mercedes-Benz, and, in his 50s, had an 18-year-old mistress.
All over China, a country where the bureaucracy fills almost every available space with myriad organizations and where unimaginable sums of money can be made if you just know the right people, growing ranks of swindlers are peddling the ultimate currency — influence with the political elite.
But Li was a cut above your average con man, establishing an official-sounding organization in Beijing and then franchising out the use of that name for large sums of money to hustlers or social climbers around the country, according to interviews with those he dealt with. He was undone only when his relationship with his young mistress was exposed on the Internet and the party disowned him.
Qiao Xinsheng, a professor at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, said that for centuries, China has been an excessively centralized state, where emperors would dispatch envoys to far-flung corners of their lands to exercise their power.
“This provides fertile soil for political swindlers. There is an information asymmetry that they take advantage of to swagger and deceive people,” he said. “Anyone who has a connection with central-government officials, or even their relatives, will encounter no problems with local governments.”
Like a growing number of dishonest officials — or would-be officials — Li was exposed because of his relationship with a young woman.
“It is very difficult for ordinary people to identify swindlers, because officials are estranged from people. The sense of distance between officials and the public is what swindlers live on.” ~Yi Shenghua, a lawyer who met Li in 2011
Qiao Xinsheng, a professor at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, said that for centuries, China has been an excessively centralized state, where emperors would dispatch envoys to far-flung corners of their lands to exercise their power.
“This provides fertile soil for political swindlers. There is an information asymmetry that they take advantage of to swagger and deceive people,” he said. “Anyone who has a connection with central-government officials, or even their relatives, will encounter no problems with local governments.”
Like a growing number of dishonest officials — or would-be officials — Li was exposed because of his relationship with a young woman.
When photographs were posted on an Internet forum in June showing a shirtless Li on a bed beside the doe-eyed teenager, Internet users thought they had caught another corrupt and creepy cadre. Soon, though, the party disowned him and his organization. Disgraced, Li dropped out of sight, his Web site closed down and his office was shuttered.
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