Fight for your right to bribery

A lot of people are saying that China is going to eclipse the U.S. as the next great superpower, but as I've pointed out before, China, while it's made leaps and bounds in the years since Maoism, is still full of peasants living in third world conditions.

And here's a story about some of those peasants fighting against for corrupt public officials:

Villagers in southeastern China are up in arms after missing out on lucrative bribes during a recent village elections when candidates foreswore the practice at a temple, according to a Communist Party monthly magazine.

Officials up for election in Dingmei village in Fujian province had to swear to the party they would not bribe voters, but they went one further and took the same oath at a village temple, magazine Xiao Kang said in its March issue.

But this did not go down well with villagers, said the magazine, run by the party's ideological journal Qiu Shi, which means "Seeking Truth."

"You can earn lots of money if you're elected village boss, so what's so bad about dishing some of it out?" complained one old man, whose surname was given as Chen.

"But this election, they went to the temple and all we got was a bowl of rice and bottle of beer after all was said and done," he said. "It's peanuts."

Way to take pride in doing your civic duty, Mr. Chen. But on the other hand, the article mentions that the villagers are used to getting the equivalent of about 130 bucks at each election, so I guess I'd sort of miss that kind of scratch, too.

I love the way the article ends, though [with my emphasis]:

Despite rising living standards, China's rural areas have seen a spate of protests and riots in recent years over issues ranging from official corruption, arbitrary land grabs and miscarriage of justice to industrial pollution.

I guess they were rioting because there wasn't quite enough corruption. Maybe they're rooting for more land grabs, miscarriages of justice, and industrial pollution, too.