CHINESE POLICE disciplinary officials have suspended a Shenzhen police captain who tried to have one of his officers who died after a binge-drinking session described as a “martyr” to ensure better compensation.
Xie Feiyong, director of the traffic bureau in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen, had taken Chen Lusheng and other off-duty officers to a banquet with local cadres, where Mr Chen vomited after copious amounts of booze, passed out and suffocated on his own vomit.
The case has caused renewed uproar in China about abuse of public privilege by cadres, particularly their behaviour at banquets, which are often so lavish and expensive that ordinary people see them as a venal form of corruption.
Baijiu, the potent liquor, is a frequent presence at these meals, where “gan bei,” or “dry glass”, is the official toast. Not downing the burning liquor in one and leaving the glass unemptied can cause offence. According to local media reports, among the drinks on offer was a bottle of foreign wine that cost nearly 6,000 yuan (€604).
As far as Mr Xie was concerned, his subordinate had died in a work-related accident, so there was no reason why his legacy, or his compensation payout, should be sullied.
The District Brigade argued that Mr Chen was neither on duty nor working when he died, and Mr Xie was stripped of his post.
As a martyr, Mr Chen’s family would be eligible for up to 650,000 yuan (€65,000) in compensation, although the family is reportedly pressuring the government for at least 4.8 million yuan (€480,000), the China Daily reported. In October last year, in Shenzhen, a senior official was fired after photos and video clips of his drunken behaviour, in which he appeared to try to molest an 11-year-old girl, appeared widely online.
Just one month later, a Communist Party official became the third cadre to die from excessive drinking, after two government officials in southern China died in separate cases earlier this year after they fell into comas following official banquets that involved excessive drinking.
The Chinese are not big drinkers on a day-to-day basis, and public drunkenness is rare, but the banquets can be hardcore drink-fests.
The Chinese banquet is central to business and social life, where decisions are made and all-important friendships are forged as a basis for the “guanxi”, or network of personal connections.