In a bizarre turn of events, the village of Sunshi Kiln in South Village Town, Hui County, Henan Province, China, has been ordered by the court to pay a compensation of 781,000 RMB. The current village secretary, in an attempt to evade responsibility, went as far as appointing an intellectually disabled individual to take over his position. Netizens sarcastically commented, “This is too absurd! Even a script wouldn’t dare to be written like this.”
According to reports from mainland Chinese media Upstream News and The Paper, the 61-year-old Guo Baihu was originally the village secretary of Sunshi Kiln Village. He started working in the village committee in 2000 and resigned in 2017. In 2022, Guo Baihu filed a lawsuit with the Hui County Court, claiming that he had advanced funds multiple times for the village committee’s daily operations. From 2002 to 2017, he had advanced over 780,000 RMB. He requested the court to order the village committee to return his principal and interest. After four trials, the village committee was ordered to repay Guo Baihu over 780,000 RMB of advanced funds.
However, in 2024, the then-village secretary of Sunshi Kiln Village, Tie Tuo, refused to repay the debt and did not want to be classified as a high-spending restriction individual due to debts. He then approached a staff member responsible for the management of official seals in South Village Town and fabricated a fake appointment letter.
The fake appointment letter stated, “After discussions by the town party committee, Comrade Guo Hei is appointed as the Party branch secretary of Sunshi Kiln Village.”
However, the Guo Hei mentioned in the appointment letter was actually an intellectually disabled person in the village.
Reports from Upstream News confirmed after an investigation that this intellectually disabled individual revealed that many people in the village joked that he had become the secretary, but he himself had no idea when he became one.
According to Upstream News, Guo Hei holds an expired disability certificate indicating that he is a grade two intellectually disabled person. Public medical records show that a grade two intellectual disability refers to an individual with moderate deficiencies in intellectual functioning, adaptive behavior, needing long-term support and guidance in cognitive, self-care, and social adaptive abilities.
The enforcement ruling issued by the Hui County Court mentioned that in February 2024, the court issued an enforcement notice and property report, freezing the village committee’s deposits. In July 2024, a transfer of 58,000 RMB from the village committee’s bank account was made to repay Guo Baihu. In the same month, a high-spending restriction order was issued to Sunshi Kiln Village and the legal representative Guo Hei, implementing measures of restricting high consumption.
“When I saw that the legal representative became Guo Hei, I was dumbfounded. Guo Hei is my cousin, and we have the same grandfather. I am his legal guardian. Guo Hei has an intellectual disability. How could he become the village secretary?” said Guo Baihu.
On the evening of December 14th, a mainland media journalist met Guo Hei near Sunshi Kiln Village. The journalist asked, “What is five plus five?” He replied, “It’s ten.” When asked, “What is ten plus ten?” he said, “I don’t know. When there are too many numbers, I don’t know anymore. I often can’t find my lighter when I want to smoke, even though it’s in my pocket. I used to climb trees and fell down when I had a high fever as a child, and now my mind is not as sharp.”
Several interviewed villagers of Sunshi Kiln Village expressed that it is impossible for Guo Hei to be the village secretary and someone must have used him as a cover-up. “Bullying an intellectually disabled person is despicable,” they stated.
After the incident was exposed, officials from Hui County government mentioned that the County Commission for Discipline Inspection has taken action against relevant officials.
Around 9 a.m. on December 16th, a mainland media journalist found through business information software that the information about Guo Hei being under high-spending restrictions was still valid.
Guo Hei mentioned that none of the individuals involved in the incident had offered him an apology.
This event has sparked mockery among Chinese netizens:
“Bullying honest and disabled people, doesn’t their conscience hurt?”
“Haha, this operation is truly unexpected.”
“They are the real ‘entertainment circle’.”
“A more humorous real-life story than the satire of late Qing Dynasty officialdom!”
“This is too absurd! Even a script wouldn’t dare to be written like this!”