In recent years, the arbitrary fines and fees imposed by official Chinese Communist Party (CCP) institutions have been heavily criticized, with the root cause of these arbitrary measures being local financial difficulties. Recently, in Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province, a villager was fined 100,000 yuan by the local market supervision bureau for making a profit of 180 yuan from selling a sheep, sparking public attention and outcry.
On the afternoon of December 24th, a villager in Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province, made a profit of 180 yuan by selling a sheep at the municipal market in Dafeng District and was fined 100,000 yuan by the administrative lawsuit case in the Yancheng Middle Court’s 17th courtroom, which was open to the public.
According to the case, on November 21, 2023, market supervision bureau staff in Dafeng District of Yancheng City found a villager named Chen Guangfang displaying a sheep carcass and six sheep heads without the required inspection and stamp on the meat at his stall in the urban vegetable market. During the inspection, Chen Guangfang admitted to having three additional sheep carcasses in his refrigerator at home and led law enforcement officers to his house to complete the confiscation procedures.
Three days later, Chen Guangfang submitted an “Explanation of the Situation” stamped by the Zhaonan Village Committee of the Fenghua Street in Dafeng District and the Urban Market Management Office, stating that there was an elderly person suffering from late-stage lymphoma in the family, requiring significant medical expenses, facing financial hardship at home, and requesting leniency while vowing to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
However, in January of the following year, the market supervision bureau in Dafeng District of Yancheng City issued a penalty notice to Chen Guangfang, proposing administrative penalties for his sale of one sheep and six sheep heads resulting in a profit of 180 yuan, intending to confiscate the unsold six sheep heads and four sheep (including the three carcasses found at home), confiscate the illegal proceeds of 180 yuan, and impose a fine of 130,180 yuan.
It’s worth noting that the market supervision bureau conducted sampling and inspection of the sheep heads and meat. On February 23, the inspection report from Jiangsu Traceability Technology Service Co., Ltd. showed that the sampled batch of sheep meat met the requirements of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, with results indicating it met standards.
Before making a formal administrative penalty decision, the market supervision bureau held a hearing and announced the inspection and quarantine conclusion as “meeting the standards.” However, the bureau still proceeded with an administrative penalty imposing a fine of 100,000 yuan, confiscating the sheep carcasses and heads, as well as the proceeds from the sale.
In May of that year, individual business operator Chen Guangfang filed a lawsuit against the market supervision bureau in Dafeng District, arguing that the administrative penalty decision had factual errors in determining the operational quantity and was overly punitive, potentially leading to poverty due to fines, and requested the revocation of the original administrative penalty.
To Chen Guangfang’s surprise, the Yancheng Yandu District Court rejected her lawsuit request. Dissatisfied with this decision, Chen Guangfang has now appealed to the Yancheng Intermediate Court.
It’s understood that the six sheep involved in the case were raised by Gu Delan, a villager in Chang’an Village of Xintuan Town in Dafeng District, who passed away during the penalty period. In a handwritten explanation requesting leniency for Chen Guangfang from the law enforcement agency, Gu Dekui, the younger brother of Gu Delan, wrote, “Due to my brother’s illness with late-stage cancer, he asked me to help him dispose of several sheep for his medical expenses. I found someone to sell the sheep, but they refused, after repeated requests, they helped to dispose of the sheep. Unexpectedly, it led to a violation according to the industrial and commercial department, I also feel sorry for them.”
This case has sparked widespread attention and discussion among internet users.
Many netizens commented, “This is a case of urban authorities targeting rural areas, where real food safety concerns are neglected, and individual rural businesses are unfairly targeted.” “When I see Yancheng, I feel like everything is normal, as revenue generation methods in Yancheng are well known.”
“The biggest risk is not that the sheep raised by farmers are not quarantined, but the additives in well-known branded and listed company foods that you certify.” “100,000 yuan is several years’ worth of frugal living for an ordinary family.” “Today I saw a case where buying a few parrots could lead to a 10-year sentence, while trafficking in women and children only resulted in a 5-year sentence.”
Some netizens also said, “This is a major reason for the growth of non-tax revenue against the tide.” “Reading the comments, it feels like social conflicts are intensifying; the rise and fall of dynasties mostly originate from this, we should learn from history.”
It is worth mentioning that the Yancheng City mentioned above, the city’s Judicial Bureau had published an article in January this year claiming that the city government had no losing lawsuits for five consecutive years. Some local residents expressed, “With such difficulty in suing officials, and the city government’s 100% success rate, who dares to sue in the future?”
In reality, behind the arbitrary fines and fees imposed by official CCP institutions lies the financial difficulties faced by local governments. In times of financial hardship, fine revenues have become an important component of CCP local government finances and are a common administrative enforcement measure at all levels of government.
In recent years, the arbitrary fines imposed by official CCP institutions have come under heavy criticism. Public information shows cases like a farmer being fined 50,000 for slaughtering a pig; a profit of 14 yuan from selling celery resulted in a 100,000 fine; a vendor earning 21 yuan from selling vegetables was fined 110,000; a Beijing bun shop selling tofu pudding was fined 15,000, with over 7,000 eventually confiscated; a food shop selling cold skin noodles had 119 yuan confiscated and was fined 5,000.
In October of this year, Professor He Haibo from Hubei Normal University wrote an article on Observer Network, revealing various anomalies he discovered during his research across China, including blind local government investments leading to massive debts, officials fabricating GDP figures and poverty alleviation data, and official actions that harm people’s livelihoods, such as mandating orderly placement of kitchen utensils, neatly stacking bedroom bedding, prohibiting ducks from swimming in rivers, not allowing chickens to walk outdoors, and banning farmers from stacking firewood in their yards, with fines for violations.
With increasing downward pressure on China’s economy in 2024, a slump in the real estate market, and a significant decline in tax and local government land sales revenue, there is greater pressure on fiscal revenue growth.
The Chinese Ministry of Finance recently released data showing a year-on-year decline in the country’s general public budget revenue in the first 11 months, with a 3.9% decrease in tax revenue and a 17% increase in non-tax revenue.
Confiscated fines fall under non-tax revenue in the local general public budget revenue. Confiscated fines represent fines, confiscations, and variable revenue collected by law enforcement agencies, including general confiscated fines from public security, transportation, taxation, courts, market supervision, as well as customs fines from public security and market agencies.