BEIJING | From the print edition of The Economist
Golf clubs are places where powerful men in hideous clothes hatch shady deals. So China’s Communist Party has banned its 88m members from playing the game. The order was made public on October 21st after approval by the party’s Central Committee and endorsement by Wang Qishan, the hatchet man for President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign. Its aim is to “uphold the principle that Party discipline is stricter than the law”—that is, to show that party members are selfless sorts who would rather sit through a four-hour meeting about raising crop yields than do anything bourgeois or fun. The new rules also bar party members from “excessive eating and drinking” and “improper sexual relationships”.
Golf and graft have gone together in modern China like tartan trousers and dull anecdotes. Mao Zedong is said to have denounced it as a “sport for millionaires”. But since his death, the wealthy and powerful have fallen in love with it. In the 1990s the construction of new courses boomed. It was banned in the early 2000s, but many developers simply relabelled their projects “nature resorts”. Peasants whose paddy fields were bulldozed to make way for fairways often had no choice and were inadequately compensated.
Nonetheless, some say the party’s war on golf misses the point as woefully as a weekend hacker might miss a three-foot putt. If you are looking for a club in China where powerful people meet behind closed doors to carve up the country, the most obvious one is full of cadres, not caddies. Officials are not corrupt because they play golf; they can afford to play golf because they are corrupt. Banning the symptoms of graft is no substitute for addressing its root causes, any more than an anti-slice driver can fix your faulty golf swing.
From the print edition: China
The action taken by the Communist Party of China on several personal life activities is totally an absurd one for me. Specifically on the sport of golf which has no direct link to the causes of corruption. and other activities regarding the misallocation of valuable government resources. In my opinion the countries new policy should be made to focus on the education and prevention, of various mishaps within the territory of the government. As the primary focus shifts from blatantly banning a sport enjoyed by many, to effectively seeking solutions to the roots of corruption. In another light this would also benefit construction projects based on golf resorts, which can generate jobs much needed in China and revenue for many counterparts. Golf is also a sport used in the business culture to know the traits of our counterparts better and sometimes used to close business deals. Overall in my opinion golf is something that needs to be preserved in China, as it still has a significant effect over society and specifically businesses.
ReplyDeleteI can understand what Hassya is saying but I am not totally agree with that too. What I can agree with is the fact that golf is just a sport. Being that it has been acknowledged by the International Olympic Council (IOC) as one of the discipline competed in the Summer Olympic Games, golf is a well-known activities and common to play worldwide. But, as Hassya mentioned on his comment that golf is also a sport played as part of the ‘business culture’, we could infer that it is common to find business transaction in golf. The question is: What type of business transaction? This business transaction could be the regular one where one pays for the services or goods he consumes, or likewise the act of bribery. And finally, we could understand, or at least get the point of why the Chinese government under the regime of Xi Jinping disbanded golf. Based on the survey and research conducted by analysts, we could not deny the fact that corruption has been extremely declining since Xi Jinping took office on 2013. Despite of the pros and cons, I would still appreciate his efforts to demolish corruption.
DeleteInteresting article, Mr Adrian. I personally sometimes envies “firm” countries in which they may conduct undemocratic activities—through actions lawfully eligible within their ideological stances—to stimulate discipline and paradigm with the incentive of nurturing the people’s welfare, eliminating dirty politic practices such as corruption, influential people gathering behind closed doors to transact illegal activities, and so on.
ReplyDeleteSome democratic stances sometimes delay developments as a nation occasionally needed unapologetic policies to run the country; China imposes actions to people who did not want to move their home when the government plans to build a toll road crossing their place. Such issues slow down infrastructure process for the greater good in the longer run. I believe in the classical macroeconomic theory; productivity was pulsed through investments and growth in infrastructure and human capital. Substantial actions are needed to tackle decisions in which the decision was taken by uninformed people and may result in long-term effects.
“Diversity in thought, unity in action.”
Xi Jinping do not have the right to assert his authority in intervening the private lives of his own people, especially with the reason being, to combat corruption, is totally irrelevant to the issue. What Xi Jinping has exhibited is a diversion of attention from bigger issues that may happen within his cabinet. As for example, Lu Wei, the former head of China’s internet regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) was accused of taking advantage of his positions – and the power and status that came along with them – to seek profits for others on matters such as network management and promotions, the Intermediate People’s Court of Ningbo heard. The court heard Lu’s crimes spanned his decades-long career at state news agency Xinhua, the Beijing municipal party committee and government, the CAC and the party’s Central Publicity Department. This is just one of the cases that happens in the country, there are many other corruption cases in spite of China’s strict regime in combating the issue. The banning of golf is merely Xi Jinping’s effort to “window-dress” the country in the eyes of the rest of the world.
ReplyDeleteI think Chinese Communist Party’s decision to forbid their member from involving luxurious activity like playing golf and eating lavishly while their people living poorly is a great policy. Even though China is authoritarian and lacking of democracy, their economic system mostly relied on market capitalism with strict supervision of the state. This caused the emergence of rich people, some of them are members of Chinese Communist Party. It is okay to having luxurious lifestyle if you are not a member of Chinese Communist Party. But, for rich members of the Chinese Communist Party, they should stick to their party’s ideology and live moderately.
ReplyDeleteXi Jinping is a leader that rules with an iron fist. He despises corruption done by his government, going as far as executing corruptors. So I think the ban on playing golf is nothing compared to this and he will do everything to ensure the prosperity of his people.
I think that China's Communist Party banned golf, not because the shady deals that might happen during the game, but it is more on how golf is not playable by everyone. We generally know that communist's main goal is to treat everyone equal, while we know that golf is played by the elites. In real life, golf can be used to do 2 main things: Sport and cut deals. In Indonesia, Businessmen are the ones that play golf. Usually, businessmen would meet their clients in the golf field, and talk about their deal. As long as they are businessmen, every deal they make would be not shady and not corrupt. Moreover, we know that every member of the communist party should portray their living standards 'equal' with every other people, therefore they are forced to not play golf, excessive eating and drinking, and improper sexual relationship. This regulation becomes a drawback for the communist party member because they could not show their wealth.
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, I must disagree with your notion; “more on how golf is not playable by everyone. We generally know that communist's main goal is to treat everyone equal”. This is more of a technical comment and ideological misconception. Communism as an ideology resides a utopian goal to establish a society in which the order of socioeconomic is structured upon the common ownership of the means of production, hence eliminating money, state and social classes. All ideologies in the political spectrums are arguably equal and neutral to every living human, what made them thought as unequal is the practice, and what made them different is who owns the production, and several stances in socio-economics. Therefore, there has never been a country in which the commune may be considered “true communism” as it is impossible to impose a country with an ideology of objecting a state as a political entity.
DeleteMy guess is that excessive and improper golfing grows in the same garden as "excessive eating and drinking” and “improper sexual relationships”. I wonder why "flashy automobiles", "ostentatious residences", " too many offspring in elite Western schools" or "unnecessary yachts" are not forbidden. Since no reasonable person believes banning golf will end corruption, wouldn't it make more sense to put a heavy tax on it? China obviously doesn't care that it would cause less quantity demanded and if golf is apparently played mostly by corrupt people in China, why not get some revenue instead of an outright ban? Assuming the demand for golf course is price elastic, a heavy tax will drive away the demand for golf games to other consumption practices, which do not yield much tax after all. It's difficult to take one part of a whole, and use that part to claim the whole is failure. Banning golf is simply one part of the entire anti-corruption campaign. I would argue China take just banning golf into account, but if you combine it with the program as a whole it may be more effective. Also, this sounds a lot like the argument against banning heroin or cocaine.
ReplyDeleteThe usual argument goes, "If you don't fix the root of the problem, that being the desire to take heroin or cocaine, then simply banning the drug won't help." Yet this is a fundamentally wrong conclusion. Banning hard drugs does lead to fewer users of them, and it keeps many people who are on the edge from using them. They may use softer drugs and become addicts, but at least their addiction won't lead to the absolute destruction that hard drugs cause. Similarly, banning golf won't fix Chinese corruption. But if you take into account the entire anti-corruption campaign it will make being horribly corrupted more difficult. Being a little corrupt, like many Western politicians, is tolerated since it is so hard to get rid of. Until China, and the world as a whole, can find a way to make politicians honest, we will have to make do with banning or fixing those things that make them dishonest.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why they band golf, that in fact is just a sport. But as stated on the article, they see golf as sport for millionaires and communist party wants equality to everyone. As we all know, communist party do not want some groups become so rich while the other group were so poor. As stated on the article, officials are not corrupt because they play golf, but they can afford to play golf because they are corrupt. For the general public, golf is considered to be prohibitively expensive. However, it is seen as the top recreational sport for business people and officials. In my opinion, golf can be a place where some cadets meet and talked privately about their plan to have shady deals. But by banning golf for their cadets does not make them stop corrupting the country. They still can find another place meet and have a transaction privately.
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