Recently, the Chinese Communist authorities have successively announced multiple cases of village officials being investigated. Village committees do not belong to the administrative structure of the Chinese Communist government, village directors do not have administrative ranks, and are not civil servants. The anti-corruption campaign of the CCP has now reached grassroots mass autonomous organizations, with village collective land, funds, and assets becoming targets of investigation.
In Beijing, there have been several village committee directors under investigation in recent times. On July 17th, the discipline inspection commission of Haidian District reported that Qin Siliang, the former director of the Village Committee of Qianzhang Village in Shangzhuang Town, is suspected of serious violations of discipline and law, and is currently under review and investigation. On July 6th, Zhang Jibin, the former director of the Village Committee of Fangguang Village in Wangxinzhuang Town, Pinggu District, was investigated.
On June 23rd, Li Xin, the former secretary of the Party General Branch of Zhuanghu Village and former director of the Village Committee of Wangzhuo Town in Fengtai District, as well as Xu He, the former secretary of the Party General Branch of Hu Zhuang Village and former director of the Village Committee in Jinhaihu Town, Pinggu District, were also under investigation. In less than a month, at least 4 former village committee directors in Beijing have entered the investigation process.
Shandong lawyer Wu Tianyou (pseudonym) told reporters that village committees are grassroots mass autonomous organizations in legal terms, and village directors are elected by villagers, not within the administrative establishment of the CCP, and not civil servants. He said: “Previously, there were almost no reports of discipline inspection commissions investigating village directors for corruption. In the past few months, even village directors and party secretaries who are not considered officials have been investigated, indicating that the authorities now judge whether a person is under inspection based on their management of land and compensation funds. This is a signal of the official tightening of financial power.”
Wu Tianyou mentioned that although village directors do not have administrative ranks, they may handle village collective land, residential land, demolition compensation, and miscellaneous fees from villagers. He said, “Although village directors are even lower than minor officials, the authorities know that some village officials control a portion of operational properties, and the amounts of assets and projects involved may exceed those of ordinary township departments, hence bringing them under supervision.”
From June 23rd to July 17th, in less than a month, at least 5 village-level organizational leaders in Beijing have been investigated, including Qin Siliang from Shangzhuang Town, Haidian District, Chen Guochun from Chao Mi Dian Village in Yan Village Town, Fangshan District, Zhang Jibin from Fangguang Village in Wang Xinzhuang Town, Pinggu District, Li Xin from Wangzhu Town in Fengtai District, and Xu He from Hu Zhuang Village in Jinhaihu Town, Pinggu District.
Chinese constitutional scholar Xue Xinlian (pseudonym) stated that village directors are elected, outside the CCP system, belonging to grassroots organizations, but often bear official responsibilities and are directly led by the Communist Party. He said, “Although land technically belongs to the collective of villagers, ordinary villagers find it challenging to directly make decisions on its use. Despite the low position of village directors, resources they control are overseen by the CCP. When the economy was doing well, the officials could be corrupt without consequences, but now that the economy has worsened, they see village directors as another piece of meat to devour, hence targeting them.”
Apart from Beijing, on July 2nd, Peng Chuang, the former secretary of the Party General Branch and former director of Ma Chang Village in Shunhe Town, Yunguang District, Suzhou, was investigated; on the 3rd, Yang Chuanbei, the former director of Yangxu Village Committee in Lanqiao Town, Huaiyuan County, Bengbu City, was under investigation; and on the 17th, Yao Guoyou, the former secretary of the Party Branch and village director of Suntian Village, Shangshan Town, Xiuning County, underwent review and investigation.
Scholar Xue Xinlian believes that the CCP’s anti-corruption efforts have expanded from the central government to local townships, and even to village committee directors and party secretaries in some places, with some areas also investigating village police. “This indicates that from mighty tigers to small flies, even the maggots are not spared. After all, maggots are still flesh.”
Chinese political scholar Mr. Sun told reporters that the CCP has extended the anti-corruption campaign to the village level, not only dealing with grassroots embezzlement and interest transmission but also strengthening control over village collective resources. He believes that in recent years, the CCP has labeled corruption at the village level as “fly greed and ant corruption,” making rural collective funds, assets, and resources key targets for rectification. “Even though village directors are not even considered as ‘grade seven sesame officials,’ as long as they handle land, funds, and village collective assets, they will still fall into the investigation scope of discipline inspection commissions. The power of the CCP state has further penetrated into the realm of village self-governance.”