Anti-Corruption Agonistes: Losing Their Cars and Chauffeurs Was Bad Enough, Now Chinese Officials Must Learn to Drive

A lot less dealing and a lot more wheeling...JL

Patti Waldmeir reports in the Financial Times:

Chinese officials are already reeling from the indignity of losing their official cars and chauffeurs as part of Beijing’s anti-corruption campaign. Now they face the added humiliation of finding themselves bottom of the class at driving school.
Chinese officials are already reeling from the indignity of losing their official cars and chauffeurs as part of Beijing’s anti-corruption campaign. Now they face the added humiliation of finding themselves bottom of the class at driving school.

President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign, which began in 2012, has stripped government officials of many of the finer things in life, from luxury saloons and government drivers who are always on call, to all-expenses-paid government trips that involve more eating, drinking and sightseeing than policy making.

That may have whittled waistlines along with expense accounts, but it is also creating a cadre of grumpy pupils. State news agency Xinhua says some government officials find it so hard to take orders that they repeatedly fail China’s notoriously tough driving tests.

Xinhua quoted an anonymous driving instructor as saying that one 56-year-old official, forced to learn to drive after losing his official car, “has been an official in his work unit for years and everyone there listens to him. So he also has a lot of ideas of his own when learning to drive. He only wants to drive his own way, so he can’t pass the exam.”
The news agency also quotes an official named Zhang, 52, as saying she failed the driving test 10 times and changed driving instructors three times, adding: “The more I fail, the hotter my temper.”

It does not help that China has one of the toughest - and costliest - driving tests around. Between the 78 hours tuition and fees that can run as high as $1,500, many have been driven to a spot of licence arbitrage and sit a less arduous test in South Korea.

Back home, it costs only a small fee - and a whole lot less sweat - to convert the South Korean licence into a Chinese one.

Self-driving is only the latest indignity to befall officials, who have had to forgo publicly funded opera, lion dances and variety shows among other perks in the name of the austerity campaign. Last year they were even told to cut back on the ancient game of mah-jong .

Also consigned to mere memory are the high-end cognacs and traditional baijiu spirits quaffed at government banquets, alongside elaborate mooncakes and hairy crabs, as officials struggle to demonstrate a new capacity for abstemiousness.

Last year Xinhua reported that Beijing had banned private clubs in historical buildings, parks and other public facilities because they were obstructing the fight against corruption. Private clubs have a reputation in China as hotspots for illicit sex and shady deals.

Beijing has also forbidden senior government officials and executives at state-owned enterprises from accepting scholarships to do executive MBAs, leading to a sharp drop in enrolment.

Meanwhile, some airlines have abolished first-class travel and hotels have asked to be downgraded from five stars, in an attempt to fit in with the new atmosphere