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Tragedy of a corrupt official with a poor childhood
By Shi Zhao (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-14 09:28
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The corrupt official Ye Shuyang who had dreamed of pocketing 60 million yuan has found himself in jail, after his illegal proceeds reached 34 million yuan.
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Other than the corruption, he was known for his hard personal struggles to move upwards. Some media have done a thorough inquiry about his past history and how people around him have perceived him.
To everybody's surprise, both people in his hometown and colleagues thought well of him. It is reported that his childhood hardships left a deep impression on him - according to Ye, he could not even afford underwear before he went to high school.
This reminds me of a story about a dialogue between a famous general in the Xiang army in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and one of his officers who had fought many battles to get where he was.
When the general called on the officer, he found the officer wearing expensive satin official boots and asked him: "Do you still remember the days when we wore straw sandals"?
"Yes, yes, we wouldn't be able to enjoy the happy day now without experiencing those hard times", he answered.
The general was silent as his real intention was to remind the subordinate that he should continue to be ambitious and not give up their past ideals so easily. However, it turned out that many people only work hard in the hopes of enjoying a luxurious life.
There are various kinds of people in the world and it is not rare to find people who start businesses from scratch or manage to scale the social ladder. However, they can continue to be successful only if they remain clean and virtuous. Otherwise, the past glorious experiences might just as well as lead to their own end.
At the end of the day, Ye is a corrupt official, despite the fact that people thought well of him and that once he was too poor to afford underwear.
(Excerpts from a commentary that appeared in Beijing News on Jan 13.)
