Across China: The emerging business of anti-corruption shows

At a simulated prison in the city of Suqian, east China's Jiangsu Province, visitors are watching fellow "corrupt" official talking to his family.

It is part of an anti-corruption education center built at a cost of about 700,000 yuan (114,380 U.S. dollars) that has been selected by the Supreme People's Procuratorate as an exemplary.

Across China, a growing number of anti-corruption exhibitions and education centers have attracted visits by millions of government officials, members of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) and school students.

In order to deter corruption, the CPC has turned to such exhibitions and educational bases, giving birth to an emerging new business, the Beijing Youth Daily reported Monday.

Various anti-graft agencies and procuratorates were asked to put on exhibitions to display counter-corruption achievements and warn officials to uphold integrity by showing the misery of fallen officials.

Civil servants are the largest attendees, especially those from departments vulnerable to the temptation of money and power like taxation offices, economic planning departments and police bureaus. University students are also among the visitors, with tours organized by schools.

At the exhibitions, stories of corrupt officials and their confessions are written on display boards or told by officials themselves in confession videos.

Scholars and prosecutors are also invited to give lectures, and falling officials are asked to tell their own stories in front of the audience.

Exhibition companies have found good business in being contracted to put on the shows.

Such anti-corruption shows greatly increased after the 18th CPC congress in late 2012 when the new leadership headed by Xi Jinping vowed to crack down on corruption. There are no statistics available, but each province and city may hold at least one exhibition.

Sanyueyu, a media company, provides exhibitionist ranging from hundreds of thousands of yuan to millions, said Wang Hui, a staff member.

Materials used in such exhibitions include a video showing grey-haired Zhou Yongkang, former Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and the largest "tiger" caged so far, in court. Local government use examples of local officials to serve as a warning.

Wang said the company completed more than 100 small and large exhibitions last year. Before the anti-corruption drive initiated in late 2012, they did not provide such service as demand was low.

Nowadays, more cultural, media and advertisement companies provide exhibition services to the government, with the number hard to estimate as anti-corruption exhibitions are only a portion of their business operations.

Five new exhibitions and education centers opened last week. Before late 2012, there were seldom new exhibitions.

At one show in Beijing's Haidian District, visitors are shown a banquet where business people bribe officials by giving them money in envelops.

Since the exhibition started in April last year, it has been visited by nearly 7,000 Party members from more than 230 organizations. Endit