THE DEPUTY airport police chief at Shenzhen in southern China is facing a major investigation and public outrage after holding a wedding banquet for his daughter with 110 tables of guests, who feasted themselves on lobster and shark’s fin soup.
Questions are being asked about how he could afford up to 500,000 yuan (€51,000) for such a sumptuous wedding banquet on a civil servant’s salary. Local media have suggested that Liu Shenqiang may have called in favours unethically or income obtained illegally to stage the banquet.
In China wedding guests often give cash gifts in little red envelopes to the bride and groom that help offset the costs of the wedding but there is outrage at the €400 per table seafood bill at Mr Liu’s daughter’s wedding.
The airport police have a lot of power as they control what goods come through the terminals, a particularly key issue in a booming trading centre such as Shenzhen.
Mr Liu was quoted as saying that he had no choice but to go all out for a big wedding bash because he had many relatives as well as all his friends from his home village and old comrades from the army.
“Both families have lived in Shenzhen for decades and my old army buddies just expect to be invited,” Mr Liu said as he sought to explain the social pressures on the modern cadre. “There was nothing I could do about it. I hope everyone will excuse me and understand it from my perspective.”
The incident comes just weeks after a police officer in Shenzhen died of over-imbibing alcohol at a banquet with local leaders, bringing further negative attention to what the population sees as sleazy behaviour of officials trying to curry favour and score bribes.
Recently another cadre in Guangdong province was suspended after news reports about a house-warming party he held for more than 1,000 guests.
The Chinese consider corruption the biggest blot on the country’s international image, followed by counterfeit and shoddy goods and pollution, a survey this week has found. China’s ruling communists are anxious to project an image of clean hands and responsible leadership.
The poll conducted by Horizon Research Consultancy Group say 59.2 per cent of respondents think corruption among government officials hurts China’s image the most.