Bribery convict can write novel

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(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-16 08:06

Zhou Jiugeng, known as the "Super Expensive Cigarette Director", is writing a novel after being sentenced to 11 years in prison. We are waiting to see how he exposes the officialdomsays an article in Shanghai Morning Post. Excerpt:

Zhou Jiugeng, a former director of the Nanjing real estate management bureau, came under fire late last year when he told reporters that realty developers should be punished for selling apartments below cost price. Later, netizens revealed a series of photographs exposing Zhou's luxurious lifestyle, after which he was found guilty of taking bribes and sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Zhou has reportedly decided not to appeal against his sentence, and instead to work on a novel that would reflect how officials toil in the bureaucracy.

The news of his decision has stirred netizens again, who have launched another attack on him. Some comments on the Net say that 11 years' imprisonment is too mild a punishment for him because he is thinking of writing a novel instead of tearfully repenting his deeds.

These thoughts, however, reflect the typical way Chinese still think. A good person is worshiped as a god, and a bad one is considered "born wicked". As a result, people tend to be overwhelmed by the normal behavior of powerful figures, and want to kill them a thousand times once they lose power for a bad deed.

Zhou has already been punished by law but people still want to condemn him for life. He is paying for his crimes in prison, so we should leave him alone, and shift our focus on social evils. Hence, we should wait and see how he discloses the officialdom in his book.

(China Daily 10/16/2009 page9)