Drawing the News: Tigers and Flies

(Da Su Lao Zhang @大俗老张)
There isn’t much love this week for Shen Jilan, the National People’s Congress’s longest-serving delegate. Shen, who claims the key to her success is voting “yes” on every measure, was sharply criticized this week on the official Weibo account of the Shanxi Committee of the Communist Youth League of China. The post was deleted and an apology reiterated six times, but netizens hadn’t lost the scent. In Da Su Lao Zhang’s cartoon, Shen is as unpleasant as she is predictable. “Loyalty: If she visits once a month, she’s Auntie Flow; if she visits once a year, she’s Auntie Shen!”

(Lao Xiao @老肖漫画_rmd)“From Nanjing to Beijing, buying can’t beat selling. It’s like this in the political market, too.” An official’s cap, marked with a UPC code, is available for purchase. The market for government positions, literally the “buying and selling” of posts (买官卖官), is an ongoing problem.

(Sinking Stone @漫画沉石)Last week, Xi Jinping vowed that the Party “must uphold the fighting of tigers and flies at the same time,” that corruption should be investigated among officials both high and low. This tiger, who has the mark of the “king” (王) on his forehead, thinks he can make off with a fortune. Distracted by the fly swatter, he doesn’t see what’s about to hit him. In a corruption crackdown, lower-level officials may find themselves out of work; but the big players, like Bo Xilai, have far more to lose.

“Striking the Tigers with the Flies” (Artist: Thomas Y.C. Wong @thomasycwong)Another take on Xi’s anti-corruption campaign: he may catch the fly, but is it worth it to face the tiger’s wrath? Top-level officials certainly don’t like when the foreign press exposes their graft. Will the Party really scrutinize its core?

(Dashix @大尸凶的漫画) If Xi is serious about fighting corruption, he has a long way to go. Zhao Hongxia, the woman who taped her sex session with Lei Zhengfu to blackmail him, slept with five other Chongqing officials, identifying herself with her real name and two other fake identities. (The stopwatch indicates Lei’s “stamina” in the video.) Read more about how she hit her target from the International Business Times [zh].