Sichuan schools corruption scandal
After the May 12, 2008 earthquake in the Chinese province of Sichuan, there were a series of allegations of corruption against officials involved in the construction of schools in regions affected by the quake.
It gained momentum in May and June 2008, and the allegations culminated in protests from grieving parents of children who died in the earthquake as a result of the collapse of various schools in the quake zone.
The scandal eventually became a focal point of reporting on the earthquake rescue efforts, with Chinese civil engineers, bloggers, activists, and foreign media bringing attention to the allegations.
The grieving parents and critical journalists pointed out that "hundreds of schools collapsed instantly – even newly constructed ones – while older buildings nearby were often unscathed.
"[6] This, in turn, has led to allegations of corruption on the part of Education Ministry officials and contractors who were said to be complicit in constructing the school buildings dangerously below government-mandated standards, while pocketing the remaining surplus.
On the other hand, if the quake's intensity exceeds the designated code, it would be hard to determine whether the earthquake engineering quality is the deciding factor of its collapse.
[10] Despite these factors, some Chinese civil engineers expressed a different view and joined the public in criticizing the initial official attribution of school collapses.
The same news article quoted persons in the know who suggested that another motivation for attempted interference would be to boost intensity in order to evade responsibility for not following seismic design codes.
Despite later denial by CEA that the published intensity reflected such interference, MA Zongjin (Chinese: 马宗晋), Chairman of the National Expert Committee for Wenchuan Earthquake who is also the Chairman of the National Expert Committee for Disaster Prevention, openly confirmed that "some local workers wanted to increase (report of) local damages or seismic intensity"[24] in a press conference sponsored by the State Council State Council Information Office of the PRC.
In July 2008, local governments in the Sichuan Province coordinated a campaign to silence angry parents whose children died during the earthquake through monetary contracts.
He established an Internet service company in October 1998 to help search for missing people, and launched a website called Tianwang Xunren on June 4, 1999.
Huang Qi was arrested on June 3, 2000, and sentenced to five years imprisonment on May 9, 2003, by the Chengdu Intermediate People's Court for the crime of inciting subversion of state power.
[28] During the Sichuan Earthquake, Huang Qi's work and his website were widely reported by media to help find missing people to unite family members.
[28] In the afternoon of June 12, 2008, Lawyer Xu, Tianwang's legal counsel, went to the Jinyang Police Station of Chengdu to file a missing persons report.
[30] On June 17, a Hong-Kong-based human rights group reported that a retired professor, Zeng Hongling, was detained for "subversion" after publishing a critical essay titled ""My Personal Experience in the Earthquake.
[34] Although the central government was initially praised([35][36]) for its response to the quake (especially in comparison to Myanmar's ruling military junta's blockade of aid during Cyclone Nargis), it has seen an erosion in confidence over the school construction scandal.
