The People's Daily, the de facto mouthpiece of the Chinese communist party, has recently put a flash game on their site. This particular flash game, despite its cartoony nature, depicts a particularly sensitive subject matter in the People's Republic—fighting government corruption.
Ever since the new leader of the Chinese communist party came to power in late 2012, the government and the party have been addressing public unrest and discontent over government in China. The way the current government has been handling things can hardly be called reform, but there has at least been a vocal call to stomp out corruption within the government and the party.
For example, the influential, but corrupt party chief of Chongqing, Sichuan was removed from power. His supporter, a former member of the Chinese State Council, essentially the Chinese cabinet, is now under review. On top of putting the kibosh on powerful people, the current Chinese leadership has also put a halt to excessive spending by government officials and the like. Of course, the extent of the effect these initiatives have on corruption is to be determined.
The People's Daily game, called Hit the Corrupt Officials, is super simple and barebones. The game opens up with a simple intro explaining the problems of corruption and how corrupt officials need to be beaten. Playing like a timed whack-a-mole type game, the player's cursor is effectively a big stun baton.
Every time someone who looks like a corrupt official shows up, they need to be shocked. Each successful shock will give the player upwards of 100 points, whereas each missed shock will be a deduction of 10 points. At the same time, police officers and prisoners are peppered into the mix, and if the player hits a cop, they lose 100 points.
According to the People's Daily website and their public weibo microblog, the game—which appears to be a simple time waster—was planned as early as back in March 2013. Over the course of four days, over 200,000 people have played it.
Online, the comments on China's largest microblog site, Sina Wiebo, have been rather interesting, with commenters sarcastically making fun of the game and the People's Daily's efforts.
@supersuperls: Playing the game, you can find out a few things. 1. Of the five characters, four are corrupt officials. 2. The more corrupt officials you beat, the more appear. 3. The more you beat the harder it is to beat them. 4. In the end time runs out... this is a very disheartening thought.
没有法律公平：What's the point of putting up this game on People's Daily? In Hentang village of Xintanshi, Hunan province, officials used violence against the people. Is there anything about this?
欢乐烤吧：Beat them... Stand firm and beat them.
金铜煤: BS, the guys beating the tigers ( ED: "Tiger" is term for those in power) are tigers themselves!
LeungXiu: Is the point of this game to say that the more baddies you beat up, the more appear?
We have attached a link to the game for you to try out.
“打贪官” [Hit the Corrupt Officials - People's Daily]
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Eric is a Beijing based writer and all around FAT man. You can contact him @FatAsianTechie@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @FatAsianTechie.