Reflections | When officials in drought-prone Chinese region got just deserts for student-places fraud

In a case that shocked China 250 years ago, officials were punished for fraud involving donations in return for university places

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A culprit before a magistrate in 18th century China in an 1801 engraving for a British magazine. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 8:15am, 19 Oct 2024

Last week, I wrote about the conviction of Singapore’s former minister of transport S. Iswaran for improperly obtaining valuables, a case that has shocked Singaporeans, who, like Hongkongers, do not tolerate corruption in the government and civil service.

A case involving corruption in China in the late 18th century was so massive in scale that it shocked the entire nation at a time when public venality had been the norm for centuries, and where an honest bureaucrat was a rare breed.

At the time, the province of Gansu in northwest China was prone to natural disasters, especially drought. In 1774, on the pretext of alleviating the poverty of Gansu’s population and filling the diminished provincial coffers and granaries, Lergiyen, the governor-general of Gansu and Shaanxi provinces, requested the central government implement a “student by purchase” policy in Gansu.

This policy gave university places to men who did not have to pass any entrance examinations, in recognition of their contributions of grain or money to the state.

Gansu is an arid region with big tracts of desert. Photo: Costfoto/NurPhoto

Even without the necessary academic qualifications or aptitude, these “students by purchase” could enjoy the status and privileges of a student of the national university, and the opportunities and networks that a place in the august institution afforded.