Former mayor embezzled millions to build personal 'feng shui tomb'

By Ryan Kilpatrick, April 27, 2015

Recent revelations unearthed in the trial of Chen Hongping, former mayor and Communist Party Secretary of Jieyang in Guangdong Province, have shown that he once embezzled RMB3.5 million to build himself a "feng shui tomb."

Chen, whose trial began on April 21, is charged with having embezzled a total of RMB125 million in public funds during his tenure, from 2004 to 2011.

Belief in feng shui is said to be high amongst members of the Communist Party, which once banned the practice. More than half of county-level CCP officials professed faith in fortune telling, face reading, astrology and dream interpretation, according to a 2007 survey by the Chinese Academy of Governance.

Living under the Damocle's Sword of exposure and trial, a corruption expert at Beijing's Central Party School conjectured that "corrupt officials live an extremely uneasy life, and try to avoid misfortune by begging for mercy from gods and Buddha."

In the past, China's government has even blamed corruption on the superstition itself - as opposed to trivialities such as a lack of accountability, transparency, third-party oversight, an independent judiciary or free press.

In one infamous case from 1995, a Party secretary in Shandong Province was told that he could soon be promoted to vice-premier back lacked a "bridge" in his life to make it possible. Taking the diviner's words at face value, he diverted a national highway over a reservoir, creating an unnecessary and costly bridge to help his career. Instead of a promotion, however, he got the death sentence.

[Image via Oriental Daily]