In the context of increasing downward pressure on the Chinese economy and the growing difficulty in local investment attraction competition, the issue of data falsification by grassroots governments in mainland China has been exposed once again. Recently, it was revealed that in several areas of Henan Province, investment promotion data has been significantly inflated, with a huge gap between actual funds in place and reported figures, sparking widespread discussion online. Local officials openly admitted in front of the cameras that the baseline figures were originally inflated, with superiors requiring annual increases in indicators, leaving lower levels to resort to fabrication.
In recent years, investment promotion has been seen as a key lever for local governments to maintain economic growth, with “funds in place” and “investment scale” being included in performance assessment indicators. Under the dual drivers of economic pressure and performance assessment, the issue of data falsification at the local level has resurfaced.
On the evening of April 8, CCTV exposed the fraudulent practices in investment promotion data in several districts and counties in Henan.
The investigation found that in Luoyang City’s Wuyang County, the reported funds in place were 7.8 billion yuan, but only certificates for over 100 million yuan could be provided.
Even the certificates for the over 100 million yuan were riddled with loopholes: for a project investing in meat production by a trading company from Wuhan, the five bank statements provided showed payment dates in 2024 instead of the expected out-of-province funds in place between January and November 2025;
For a project of a high-end PCB electronic circuit intelligent control engineering research center invested by a Beijing company, three out of four bank statements had payment dates in December 2025 instead of within the January to November range;
For a new insulation material production project invested by a Sichuan company with 10 million yuan, no bank deposit certificate could be provided;
For a high-end intelligent equipment manufacturing project invested by a company in Anhui with 3 million yuan, only bank statements for over 650,000 yuan were provided;
Three companies claiming to have “equipment depreciation” of 29 million, 23 million, and 23 million respectively, only provided a situation explanation issued by the companies without any fixed asset evaluation reports from a third party.
In Zhengzhou City’s Guancheng District, a report showed that although the enterprise hadn’t invested a penny, they fabricated 960 million yuan.
Facing the absurd data gap, the director of the Commerce Bureau of Wuyang County in Henan Province admitted in front of the camera, “The baseline figures were originally inflated, and with superiors requiring continuous increases, we are also helpless.”
It is reported that the top-level CCP authorities have demanded that the Henan Provincial Department of Commerce deeply reflect on this issue. Jing Peng, the deputy director of the Henan Provincial Department of Commerce, stated that it is no longer required for grassroots levels and companies to report data on introducing out-of-province funds.
The significant discrepancies between the reported data and actual certificates in the cases exposed this time have raised doubts about the authenticity of grassroots data among the public and become a trending topic.
Many netizens commented that the director of the Commerce Bureau of Wuyang County spoke the “bold truth,” stripping away the facade of formalism. The continuous increase in indicators from the higher-ups, the lower levels deceiving for the sake of assessment, and the lack of oversight at all levels are deemed the main reasons for fostering the chaos of data falsification. Some netizens’ comments hit the nail on the head.
In fact, the official CCP has previously exposed multiple instances of statistical data fabrication. In 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics of the CCP reported that many places were interfering with data reporting and providing false statistical data, indicating that data distortion is not an isolated phenomenon.
On May 20 last year, the National Statistics Bureau of the CCP rarel…
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