Art, literary prizes to be scaled back to stop graft
Print Edition
First went the fancy banquets, then the lavish gift-giving. Now, the Communist Party of China has set its sights on a new target in its anti-corruption drive: art and literary prizes.
China’s proliferation of cultural awards has raised alarm among the Party’s anti-corruption investigators, who worry that government officials are using them as a means of improving their clout, Xinhua news agency reported.
At a meeting on Monday, culture ministry officials vowed to “strictly prohibit the obtaining of illegitimate benefits in the name of art,” Xinhua said.
“The ministry of culture will carry out a comprehensive rectification of literary and art awards (and) a number of awards will be cancelled or streamlined,” it said.
“Literature and art awards programs during festivals will be canceled,” it added, saying that the ministry will “guard against and eliminate all kinds of unhealthy tendencies.”
China’s art and cultural spheres have come under increasing scrutiny.
In January, the Party’s internal Central Commission for Discipline Inspection urged officials not to seek senior positions in provincial art and calligraphy associations, warning that those who do so are “stealing the meat off artists’ plates.”
“In some places, you will see dozens of vice presidents sitting atop the provincial calligraphy association,” the commission wrote in a notice at the time.
Last year, Jiang Guoxing, deputy head of the press and publication bureau in east China’s Jiangsu Province, was sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison for accepting 1.85 million yuan (US$300,000) in bribes, some of which were disguised as payment for his calligraphy “masterpieces.”
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