Comics take aim at corruption

China's top disciplinary body has launched a special column on its website containing comics that criticize corruption, which media reports have praised for being created at the grass-roots level.

The official website of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and the Ministry of Supervision (MOS) featured comics from Qiuxian county of Hebei Province on its first column of this kind on September 2.

There are around 170 strips by illustrators from the agricultural county, which is known nationwide for creating comics. The area is believed to be home to more than 3,000 comics illustrators, over 80 percent of whom are farmers.

The column includes four sections and each portray different themes, including a code of ethics to prevent corruption. It includes five works of Zhou Hui, an art teacher in Qiuxian's experimental high school.

Zhou told the Global Times that she felt delighted to have her works displayed online, which she believes can sound the alarm for the local officials to restrain abuses of power.

"Some of my works hold a sarcastic tone and criticized the misconduct of the cadres while others lauded their good points," said Hou Junshan, a researcher with the county's cultural center. Hou has published two comic books with the themes of anti-corruption and construction of a clean government.

The online works have been selected from a series of exhibitions organized by the county government, Zhao Junhai, a member of the standing committee of the county's discipline inspection commission, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Many farmers painted the comics on the walls of their houses and government departments posted comics relating to their department's functions on their walls, Zhao said.

There is even a street of comics 2.5 kilometers long in Fudong village which has over 200 comics, the Qilu Evening News reported.

The comics will have an influence on cadres by strengthening their self-discipline as well as popularizing knowledge of anti-corruption, Zhao Congjiang, Party secretary of the county's discipline inspection commission, was quoted as saying by the Jinan-based Qilu Evening News on Monday.

After reading a comic that stressed that direct grain subsidies should be used for their specific purpose, a local villager exposed misconduct regarding the misuse of these subsidies to the county's discipline inspection commission, said Zhao Congjiang.

While visiting the comics exhibition in the county in August, Wang Qishan, chief of the CCDI, said that the CCDI can explore whether the exhibition could be promoted to other areas, and be put online for a wider audience with more interaction, reported the Chendu-based Chengdu Business Daily.

Putting the comics on the official website of the MOS and Wang Qishan's visit both reflect the resolve of the top disciplinary body to combat corruption, Ni Xing, a professor in the Guangzhou-based Center for Anti-Corruption Studies of Sun Yat-sen University, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Ni said the move came after the CCDI opened a website in September to encourage tip-offs from the public.

However, Net users expressed fears that the comics would ultimately just be part of a temporary campaign.

Ni also pointed out that significant efforts to combat corruption would require the authorities to deal with the roots of corruption, and said that a system with a long-lasting foundation to combat corruption was necessary.