Governing Can Be Hazardous Work
Chinese know that certain jobs can be extremely dangerous, typically those involving government relations and sales. Why? Because they involve a lot of yingchou, or entertaining, and that is tough on the liver. The untimely demise last Friday of Shen Hao, the 45-year-old Communist Party secretary of Anhui province’s Xiaogang village, is a case in point. The Xinhua report on his death suggests that he died of overwork, a highly dedicated civil servant leading a town famous for its role in pioneering economic reforms in 1978. China Daily, however, attributed it to the “ganbei culture,” since Mr. Shen was banqueting with the baijiu the night before. Fortunately, however, alcohol poisoning is considered a death with “honor,” in the words of a merit award posthumously given to another unfortunate official.
