Some media sources have reported that the website was set up to encourage members of the public to report cases of corruption. Not strictly true given the NBCP is not responsible for investigating individual grievances. The bureau’s function, according to Xinhua, is “to collect and analyze information from the banking, land use, medicine and telecommunications sectors, among others, and to share it with prosecuting organs, courts and the police”. Indeed, the bureau was quick to pass the buck, as reported by Xinhua.

By 4 p.m. on Wednesday, netizens had left 22 pages of messages on the website’s guestbook. Many were anxious to report specific cases of official corruption but were immediately directed to other websites, such as that of the Ministry of Supervision, by the webmaster.

I can almost hear a flustered webmaster squealing at the screen (something along the lines of): “What are you people doing? It’s not some kind of free-for-all! It’s only supposed to be an advert for China’s anti-corruption fight. Your comments are about as welcome as a hog roast at a Jewish vegans’ convention.”

I enjoyed editing Xinhua’s story on this. If the original copy had developed the ability to fly, it would have circled above the Collins dictionary that is currently raising my computer monitor to a height that might just prevent me from morphing into Quasimodo in the near future, dived into the great book four-fifths of the way down and parked up next to the word “staid”. In fact, it was such an unabashed attempt to tone the incident down I had to resort to Google Translate in order to present an example of a comment left on the website, knowing that if I asked for one it would pack less of a punch than a glass of Um Bongo. Truly shameful when you consider the reliability of Google’s translation tool, as Danwei entertainingly discussed recently. In my defence, I chose a short comment that barely needed any polishing:

“The corruption problem in China is a fatal illness, establishing more institutions can not solve the problem,” one comment read.

In other words, the NBCP is a waste of time.

I also added an entire paragraph of my own “incisive analysis” to provide a bit of context and a link paragraph to a recap of some the most infamous corruption cases of our times, forgetting where I was working.

The enthusiasm that greeted the launch of the website reflects the growing frustration felt by the general public towards corruption at government level, which has been accentuated by several high-profile corruption cases in the last five years.

AFP, and subsequently the Daily Telegraph, duly wrote:

“The enthusiasm that greeted the launch of the website reflects the growing frustration felt by the general public towards corruption at government level,” reported the state news agency, Xinhua.

Aha, I knew I would be the authoritative voice of Xinhua one day! I feel it was a fair conclusion though and it wasn’t questioned by the releaser. Obviously this kind of paragraph is reported in the foreign media as carrying some official weight, maybe even as a way for the central government to convey its assessment of the situation. I suppose that’s what happens when the agency tries to balance the conflicting roles of government mouthpiece and news organisation. Where I should be criticized though, is the failure to include the fact that a few people commenting on the NBCP website actually praised its establishment, a point made by AFP. Sometimes, it is easy to go slightly too far the other way.

All that aside, I remain jealous of one of my polishing comrades who once wrote a Xinhua commentary on China’s one-child policy, complete with suggestions on how to ensure the rich do not abuse the law with their loose change. He felt he had to come up with something as the original opinion piece was missing a vital ingredient: opinion. So for one glorious day, he had the joy of being the Ministry of Publicity’s mouthpiece whether they agreed with his ideas or not.