China Briefing | TV parades of corrupt officials snared in Xi Jinping’s anti-graft campaign raise more questions than answers
- Documentaries by the Communist Party’s feared Central Commission for Discipline Inspection featuring officials confessing their misdeeds are a hit with the public
- But focusing on people like Sun Lijun or Hu Huaibang in isolation, without shining light on those around them, belies the claim that no stone is being left unturned
The unprecedented and relentless drive, launched soon after Xi became China’s top leader in late 2012, has not only helped him tame his political opponents and consolidate his power rapidly but also won him widespread popular support.
Since 2016, the CCDI, China’s most feared agency, known for its secretive and often extrajudicial approach, has started to air a multi-episode documentary every year to shed light on its operations. These tend to feature a parade of a select group of corrupt senior and low-ranking officials confessing their misdeeds and expressing remorse on prime time national television. For maximum impact, the airing of the documentary is timed to coincide with the CCDI’s annual meeting, usually set for early January.
The show has become an instant hit with the public as the footage brings to life the shocking and brazen scale of official corruption. As a narrator details how the corrupt elite abused their power and accumulated their enormous wealth, often spanning decades, images of high-end watches, expensive wines, piles of cash, and luxury villas and condos are displayed.
This year’s five-episode documentary, titled Zero Tolerance, which aired daily from January 15 to January 19, attracted even more interest than usual as it provided details for the first time on a few of the country’s most intriguing corruption cases of the past two years.
