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June 17, 2008
Chinese Corruption and School Construction -- No Longer A Suitable Media Topic
Here is Caijing magazine's attempt to explain in English the causes of the collapse of school buildings during the Sichuan earthquake. Yes, construction standards existed, goes the article, but weren't implemented. That English language translation -- intended to be the magazine's face to the world -- appears to be a compilation of several articles, including this, originally in Chinese, but the thrust of the pieces is consistent:
《财经》记者从四川省政府投资非经营性项目代建办公室在6月2日提交省抗震指挥部的一份报告中获知，省建设厅调查组的初步结论，将汶川大地震中大量公共建筑倒塌的原因归结为三点：抗震标准不达标、结构设计不合理、施工质量不合格。这与此前四川省教育厅把房屋倒塌归结为“地震烈度超过建筑设防强度”的结论并不一致。 [Editor's note: Subscription required.]
If indeed standards were sufficient to maintain a school structure long enough to allow students to leave the classroom before collapsing -- and even that statement has not been justified -- why weren't those standards implemented? Caijing magazine fails to treat this question directly. Hailed by many as a trend-setter in Chinese journalism, Caijing shows the limits of even these media channels to get the news out (as we well knew). Even an indirect assertion of corruption such as this is insufficient:
School buildings are totally controlled by an educational hierarchy. Local officials are responsible for fund-raising, lining up design and construction bids, and quality appraisals. No third party supervises the process.
So, where is the discussion of the pervasive corruption that allowed administrators, builders, educators, et al, to profit from the evasion of those standards? if anywhere, the discussion goes on within the Chinese Communist Party.
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