Gifts that stink

It may sound funny and weird, but it is true.

Those who smoke the luxurious cigarettes do not buy them, and those who buy them do not smoke them. Behind this phenomenon is the reality that some expensive consumer goods such as cigarettes and liquors are produced only to be used as gifts.

It should be no problem if gifts are meant to show friendship. But when such expensive goods end up in the hands of ranking officials, they are not meant to be just tokens of friendship.

In a recent scandal, the director of the housing management in a district of Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, was exposed to be smoking expensive cigarettes, which are as expensive as 1,500 yuan ($219) a carton. Following an investigation he was dismissed from his post for using public money to buy such cigarettes.

The director surnamed Zhou became the first official to lose his position for consuming something supposedly far beyond his means. He was said to have bought the cigarettes with public money. If that is true, his offense amounts to misappropriation of public fund. If it is not, the cigarettes probably were a gift from his subordinates or someone who needed a favor from him.

Wherever the expensive cigarettes came from, one thing is for sure that he did not spend his own money on what he was puffing at. But then how many ranking officials do so?

It has been reported that this brand of cigarette, which has become well known along with this director, is selling pretty well before the coming Spring Festival in Nanjing.

Spring Festival, the most important traditional celebration, is undoubtedly the season for gifts. That may explain why the expensive cigarettes far beyond the means of ordinary consumers, sell well during the festival.

The Chinese have long had a tradition of sending gifts to their friends or relatives before or during this festival. The gifts are just a token of friendship or a symbol of respect for the typical Chinese society.

But sending and taking of gifts clearly mean something very different now for some people. It has been reduced to a means to promote connections. In plain truth, it has become a euphemism for bribing. The production of prohibitively expensive cigarettes, moon cakes and liquors in recent years has come to cater to this demand.

On some occasions, cash is hidden in such gifts to further lubricate the process of getting something done.

As the anti-corruption campaign intensifies, we hope to have the lid blown off more officials like the director.

That will be good for clean governance. It may also restore to the gift-sending tradition its original meaning.

(China Daily 01/07/2009 page8)