Hotel-style prison awaits China's Bo Xilai: Inmates

[pianist]

is this a joke?

Tom Hancock
AFP

Sunday, Sep 22, 2013


QINCHENG, China - Fallen high-flyer Bo Xilai can expect hotel-style treatment at a jail for China's political elite, where he will enjoy comfortable surroundings but be constantly monitored by government agents, former prisoners say.

Hidden in wooded hills north of Beijing, guards stand outside the red gate of Qincheng prison, where the once-powerful Bo is widely expected to begin his life sentence after being convicted Sunday of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power.

The jail has high grey walls, but there are no obvious signs of barbed wire or watchtowers.

"It's like a five-star hotel," said Bao Tong, a former secretary to the ruling Communist Party's all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee who spent seven years in the prison for opposing the 1989 crackdown on protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Inmates at the facility - which has housed almost all the high-ranking politicians jailed in China since the 1960s - are given large private cells equipped with soft beds, sofas, desks and an en-suite bathroom, former residents said.

"I was pleasantly surprised the first time I saw my room," Dai Qing, the adopted daughter of a Chinese commander, wrote in a description to AFP.

Dai, who spent 10 months in the prison for supporting the Tiananmen demonstrators, described her cell as about 30 square metres large (320 square feet) and coming "with high ceilings... and even a bathroom", while prison guards treated her with "warmth and care".

"The head of the prison let me put on better clothes before I left," she recalled of one occasion when she was let out to visit a sick relative. "He reminded me of my old school headmaster."

Prisoners can choose their clothes, drink milk for breakfast and eat selections of soups and meat dishes for lunch and dinner, they said.

Some of the jail chefs used to work in one of Beijing's top hotels and prepare food to "ministry chief level", according to a recent report by the Beijing Times.

[felixleong]

life's good in china, they have too much $$

[Behappyalways]

宇文泰是北周开国的奠基者。当他模仿曹操，作北魏的丞相而“挟天子令诸侯”之时，遇到了可与诸葛亮和王猛齐名的苏绰。宇文泰向苏绰讨教治国之道，二人密谈三日三夜。其中到底说了些什么，史籍中并无记载。而在下有幸得到一部千古不外传的秘籍，是专门讲述治国之道的书，其中就有一段就说到二人的这次谈话，现为读者节录如下：

宇文泰问：“国何以立？”


苏绰答：“具官。”

宇文泰问：“如何具官？”

苏绰答：“用贪官，反贪官。”

宇文泰不解的问：“为什么要用贪官？”

苏绰答：“你要想叫别人为你卖命，就必须给人家好处。而你又没有那么多钱给他们， 那就给他权，叫他用手中的权去搜刮民脂民膏，他不就得到好处了吗？”

宇文泰问：“贪官用我给的权得到了好处，又会给我带来什么好处？”


苏绰答：“因为他能得到好处是因为你给的权，所以，他为了保住自己的好处就必须维 护你的权。那么，你的统治不就牢固了吗。你要知道皇帝人人想坐，如果没有贪官维护你的 政权，那么你还怎么巩固统治？”

宇文泰恍然大悟，接着不解的问道：“既然用了贪官，为什么还要反呢？”

苏绰答：“这就是权术的精髓所在。要用贪官，就必须反贪官。只有这样才能欺骗民众 ，才能巩固政权。”

宇文泰闻听此语大惑，兴奋不已的说：“爱卿快说说其中的奥秘。”

苏绰答：“这有两个好处：其一、天下哪有不贪的官？官不怕贪，怕的是不听你的话。 以反贪官为名，消除不听你话的贪官，保留听你话的贪官。这样既可以消除异己，巩固你的 权力，又可以得到人民对你的拥戴。其二、官吏只要贪墨，他的把柄就在你的手中。他敢背 叛你，你就以贪墨为借口灭了他。贪官怕你灭了他，就只有乖乖听你的话。所以，‘反贪官 ’是你用来驾御贪官的法宝。如果你不用贪官，你就失去了‘反贪官’这个法宝，那么你还 怎么驾御官吏？如果人人皆是清官，深得人民拥戴，他不听话，你没有借口除掉他；即使硬 去除掉，也会引来民情骚动。所以必须用贪官，你才可以清理官僚队伍，使其成为清一色的 拥护你的人。”

他又对宇文泰说：“还有呢？”


宇文泰瞪圆了眼问：“还有什么？”

苏绰答：“如果你用贪官而招惹民怨怎么办？”

宇文泰一惊，这却没有想到，便问：“有何妙计可除此患？”

苏绰答：“祭起反贪大旗，加大宣传力度，证明你心系黎民。让民众误认为你是好的， 而不好的是那些官吏，把责任都推到这些他们的身上，千万不要让民众认为你是任用贪官的 元凶。你必须叫民众认为，你是好的。社会出现这么多问题，不是你不想搞好，而是下面的 官吏不好好执行你的政策。”

宇文泰问：“那有些民怨太大的官吏怎么办？”

苏绰答：“宰了他，为民伸冤！把他搜刮的民财放进你的腰包。这样你可以不负搜刮民 财之名，而得搜刮民财之惠。总之，用贪官来培植死党，除贪官来消除异己，杀贪官来收买 人心，没贪财来实己腰包，这就是玩权术的艺术。”


其实，纵观历朝历代的朝廷需要的，不是张扬的清官，而是听话的贪官。这些贪官之贪，说到底无非就是从老百姓身上搞点钱物而已，无伤大雅。如果以“清廉”为政治资本，则是公然挑衅皇权，要把权力从自己手里拿走。这才是是要命的事。独裁政治，考虑的永远是权力的垄断和独占，而不是老百姓的日常生活。