# Mmm, Chinese corruption-fighting techniques
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmm-chinese-corruption-fighting-techniques/411380
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [July 11, 2007, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmm-chinese-corruption-fighting-techniques/411380 "2007-07-11T16:40:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2007, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmm-chinese-corruption-fighting-techniques/411380/1 "2007-07-11T16:40:54Z")
They’re so very, very wrong. Because they can’t say with absolute certainty that their victims are really the ones who caused the problem. But you have to admit, they’re all about accountability at the top.
From the New York Times:
> [@](#):
>
> “China Executes Ex-Regulator”
>
> “China executed its former top food and drug regulator for taking bribes to approve untested medicines, as leaders scrambled to show that China was serious about improving safety.”
Now, I’m not wishing death on anyone, since we of course are not following China’s lead any time soon (that I know of – I never would have expected the US government to sanction torture, so I never can be absolutely sure what those crazy morons in the Bush Admin. will do next.)
But if we DID follow China’s lead, who would be first?
Cause y’know, I really don’t think Brownie actually did a heck of a job in New Orleans. Au contraire.
And Alberto Gonzalez has apparently done his best to make the Bush Justice Department a politicized laughingstock.
If I were a Chinese-style bureaucrat, I’d have a little list, of people who would never be missed …
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### Author:  [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2007, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmm-chinese-corruption-fighting-techniques/411380/2 "2007-07-11T16:56:03Z")
My bolding.
[QUOTE=Evil Captor]
Cause y’know, I really don’t think **Brownie** actually did a heck of a job in New Orleans. Au contraire.
[/QUOTE]
OK, but make sure you have the right one…
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### Author:  [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2007, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmm-chinese-corruption-fighting-techniques/411380/3 "2007-07-11T18:33:16Z")
[QUOTE=brownie55]
My bolding.
OK, but make sure you have the right one…
[/QUOTE]
Ahhh, we’ll let God sort 'em out… 😛
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2007, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmm-chinese-corruption-fighting-techniques/411380/4 "2007-07-11T19:51:41Z")
I think this is the tip of the iceberg, this is the second execution in the last couple of months for similar sort of things. I have been saying for a while that I expect somebody to get executed over the pet food thing as well.
I think that over the next year or so, there is going to be a small flurry of executions of people who shirked their inspections duties or knowingly sold tainted items to foreign countries.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2007, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmm-chinese-corruption-fighting-techniques/411380/5 "2007-07-11T20:15:31Z")
Is it too late to put Rumsfeld on the list?
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### Author:  [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2007, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmm-chinese-corruption-fighting-techniques/411380/6 "2007-07-11T20:25:29Z")
While I do think execution is a little harsh, it is awfully nice to see an administration hold someone at the top responsible for something.
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### Author:  [@kitemaker\_chuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitemaker_chuck)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2007, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmm-chinese-corruption-fighting-techniques/411380/7 "2007-07-11T22:15:46Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
Is it too late to put Rumsfeld on the list?
[/QUOTE]
This would make an interesting branch of the Straight Dope Celebrity Death Pool!
It could be called something like the Straight Dope Who Should Be Shot At Sunrise Poll.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmm-chinese-corruption-fighting-techniques/411380/8 "2007-07-12T16:56:32Z")
What is the Chinese method of execution?
Firing squad, pistol in the back of the head, lethal injection, injection of tainted drugs, ingestion of wheat gluten?
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### Author:  [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmm-chinese-corruption-fighting-techniques/411380/9 "2007-07-12T17:07:21Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant]
What is the Chinese method of execution?
Firing squad, pistol in the back of the head, lethal injection, injection of tainted drugs, ingestion of wheat gluten?
[/QUOTE]
Bullet to the back of the head, lethal injection if you’re somebody important.
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmm-chinese-corruption-fighting-techniques/411380/10 "2007-07-12T17:39:42Z")
[QUOTE=NicePete]
While I do think execution is a little harsh, it is awfully nice to see an administration hold someone at the top responsible for something.
[/QUOTE]
Fat lot of good it did:
[Beijing steamed buns made of 60% cardboard](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070712/ap_on_re_as/china_cardboard_buns;_ylt=AidWIWBwIs2jaXgMvm7SedcE1vAI)
> [@](#):
>
> The bun maker and his assistants then give a demonstration on how the product is made.
>
> Squares of cardboard picked from the ground are first soaked to a pulp in a plastic basin of caustic soda — a chemical base commonly used in manufacturing paper and soap — then chopped into tiny morsels with a cleaver. Fatty pork and powdered seasoning are stirred in.
>
> Soon, steaming servings of the buns appear on the screen. The reporter takes a bite.
>
> “This baozi filling is kind of tough. Not much taste,” he says. “Can other people taste the difference?”
>
> “Most people can’t. It fools the average person,” the maker says. “I don’t eat them myself.”
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### Author:  [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmm-chinese-corruption-fighting-techniques/411380/11 "2007-07-12T18:23:02Z")
Sorry, **NicePete** , but I think the execution had nothing to do with accountability and everything to do with PR. As **Fear Itself** ’s post seems to show.
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### Author:  [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmm-chinese-corruption-fighting-techniques/411380/12 "2007-07-12T21:11:48Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself]
Fat lot of good it did:
[Beijing steamed buns made of 60% cardboard](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070712/ap_on_re_as/china_cardboard_buns;_ylt=AidWIWBwIs2jaXgMvm7SedcE1vAI)
[/QUOTE]
Hey! When did they get White Castle in China?
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### Author:  [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmm-chinese-corruption-fighting-techniques/411380/13 "2007-07-12T21:14:54Z")
[QUOTE=Ponder Stibbons]
Sorry, **NicePete** , but I think the execution had nothing to do with accountability and everything to do with PR. As **Fear Itself** ’s post seems to show.
[/QUOTE]
Perhaps so, but again, it’s refreshing for the sacrifice to the PR gods to be at the top of the food chain (cf “Good job, Brownie”) rather than the other end (e.g. Lynndie England).
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### Author:  [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmm-chinese-corruption-fighting-techniques/411380/14 "2007-07-12T21:48:07Z")
I don’t know about US leaders, but we just went live with a new Oracle Financials package and we’re deciding which pesky users to execute. One of our managers was inspired by the Chinese model.
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### Author:  [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmm-chinese-corruption-fighting-techniques/411380/15 "2007-07-13T13:50:35Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant]
What is the Chinese method of execution?
Firing squad, pistol in the back of the head, lethal injection, injection of tainted drugs, ingestion of wheat gluten?
[/QUOTE]
I’ve read that they shoot someone in the head and then charge the family for the bullet.
For what it’s worth, this idea doesn’t immediately repulse me. People who have the power to approve bad drugs and such could inflict problems and even death on a whole lot of people - I don’t see why they couldn’t be tried and executed if it was shown that they were bribed to do something unsafe knowingly. I would require a burden of proof on par with a murder trial, though, and I doubt the Chinese justice system is reliable.
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### Author:  [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmm-chinese-corruption-fighting-techniques/411380/16 "2007-07-13T17:51:55Z")
It cuts down on recidivism though.
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### Author:  [@SpectBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpectBrain)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmm-chinese-corruption-fighting-techniques/411380/17 "2007-07-13T19:25:47Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant]
What is the Chinese method of execution?
Firing squad, pistol in the back of the head, lethal injection, injection of tainted drugs, ingestion of wheat gluten?
[/QUOTE]
They get to [ride the magic bus.](http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=5754)
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmm-chinese-corruption-fighting-techniques/411380/18 "2007-07-13T19:43:53Z")
> [@Article](#):
>
> China metes out capital punishment from specially equipped “death vans” that shuttle from town to town.
I wonder if it plays _Turkey In The Straw._
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### Author:  [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2007, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmm-chinese-corruption-fighting-techniques/411380/19 "2007-07-14T08:03:04Z")
[QUOTE=NicePete]
Perhaps so, but again, it’s refreshing for the sacrifice to the PR gods to be at the top of the food chain (cf “Good job, Brownie”) rather than the other end (e.g. Lynndie England).
[/QUOTE]
Exactamundo. Hopefully a lesson the successor will take to heart.
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2007, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmm-chinese-corruption-fighting-techniques/411380/20 "2007-07-15T05:09:35Z")
[QUOTE=SpectBrain]
They get to [ride the magic bus.](http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=5754)
[/QUOTE]
It’s nice, but I still like the NKVD’s photo booth. Prisoner is seated in the booth and told they are taking his mug shot. NKVD agent pushes his TT-31 through the hole in the back (conveniently back-of-skull high) and pulls the trigger. Prisoner is dropped to the Pile-O-Corpses below, to be buried by forced labor. Built-in water jets clean off the bits of blood, brain, and bone (the 7.62 mm Tokarev is way too powerful for cleanliness) and the seat is reset for the next picture.
I think we should be glad the Chinese are using such an inefficient, even modern, method. As nice as the bus is, you can’t get any throughput, and it shows they don’t need to be efficent. The Nazis realized early on that, with millions of people to kill, they needed to improve their efficiency so they gave up on individual killings. Sure, the Hutu got some amazing throughput with only machetes, but labor is cheap in Rwanda.
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