Eric's Beijing Diary

Troubling article in the Global Times about the plight of migrant workers. As if it were not enough that migrant workers should have to put up with low wages and poor working conditions, they often have to put up with no wages at all. Poor migrant workers are hired by companies that have ties to the very government agencies which are charged with protecting those workers. The workers don't get paid until the money comes in. What that means is that companies can hire workers when they don't really have the money to pay them. They don't have to worry about the government enforcing the rights of workers, because they are the government. The word "corruption" does not appear in this article, but corruption is a very big part of this problem. This is the main difficulty the Communist Party has in this country. There is a fear on the part of the leaders that they may not be able to control the anger of poor people in the countryside, which may be why there is such a push for urbanization. But the real problem in China is the inability of the party to control corrupt officials. This problem is so widespread in China, that corruption has almost become the expected standard, which is why this article, which clearly points a finger at corrupt officials (without naming any) was allowed to be published in the primary Communist Party propaganda rag (Global Times).

Corruption dies in the light. If corruption is allowed to be exposed, it dies very quickly. In China, they are trying to deal with corruption while still keeping the specifics secret. It's not working, and it's not going to work.