A new chapter against graft

I ADVOCATE AGAINST CORRUPTION By: FanSongqing [Photo/China Daily]

The Guangzhou official who became a media darling as a crusader for honest governance is back in the spotlight with a three-volume book series about corruption. 

Fan Songqing is again making headlines nearly two years after he famously proposed all officials in Guangdong province's capital Guangzhou declare their assets and took the lead by disclosing his - this time for his self-published book series on corruption.

The 59-year-old deputy secretary-general of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference's Guangzhou municipal committee is once more rocking the boat with his three-volume series on graft published in September.

I Advocate Against Corruption comprises more than 1.3 million words from the official's experience working for the city's discipline inspection commission from 1998 to 2007, during which time he worked on many cases not made public.

"I'm about to retire, and these books are important outcomes of my hard work," he says.

"But it's not easy to publish them."

Fan believes his work with the discipline committee was meaningful. He mostly wrote reports and leaders' speeches, and says he'd often toil late into or through the night.

"I was sometimes astonished to learn about corrupt officials' immoral deeds," he recalls.

That's one of the reasons he wrote the books.

"These books are good for society," says Lu Xiaomei, Fan's friend for more than a decade.

I Advocate Against Corruption also comes as the government undertakes an anti-graft drive that has ensnared many senior officials since 2012. Fan believes the series serves as a warning to officials flirting with temptation.

He began writing last year, shortly after making the call for the disclosure of officials' assets. The civil servant spent 20 months compiling his thoughts about how to stave off graft alongside case studies from his experience with the discipline inspection commission.

Fan was too eager to publish the books to wait for the time-consuming process required on the mainland. So he spent 120,000 yuan ($19,595) - including 50,000 yuan borrowed from friends - to publish the series in Hong Kong. Since it was first published in the special administrative region, it can't be sold directly in mainland bookstores, and is only available through personal connections and social media on the mainland.

Fan says his anti-corruption bent hails from personal experience.

He was among the few Chinese to enter university in 1978 and was fortunate to study politics.

Upon graduation, he was assigned to work as a Party school teacher - a job many envied.

Yet he resigned to become a journalist with a newspaper in Hunan province in 1987.

"I wanted to make society better by writing articles that advocate good and criticize flaws," he says.

But he was forced to leave in 1994, when he reported his boss' corrupt behavior to authorities and his superior exacted revenge.

He later took a teaching position at a Guangzhou college.

Fan was transferred to the Guangzhou Municipal Committee policy research center in 1995 and began working for the city's discipline inspection committee in 1998. He was transferred to the municipal CPPCC in 2007.

"I've always known corruption would do harm to our country," he says.

"But the 10 years I worked for the discipline inspection committee opened my eyes to the extent of some officials' violations. They were beyond imagination."