China execute billionaire ex-domestic security chief for ties with mafia - Polidicks

[quote]Beijing: Chinese authorities have executed a former billionaire mining tycoon connected to the eldest son of retired domestic security chief Zhou Yongkang, the man who became the focus of a high-profile corruption investigation, state media reported. The High People's Court in the central province of Hubei ordered Monday's execution of Liu Han, the former chairman of Hanlong Group, who was sentenced to death last May, the official Xinhua news agency said. Last February prosecutors in central China charged Liu with murder, gun-running and other crimes connected with a "mafia-style" gang. Liu's firm, Hanlong Mining, had earlier tried to take over Australia's Sundance Resources Ltd. The case against Liu was one of the most prominent involving a private businessman since President Xi Jinping took office two years ago and began a campaign against graft. Once ranked as China's 230th richest person, Liu was tried last year, along with 36 others, accused of murder and running the so-called gang. Liu's younger brother Liu Wei and three others were also executed, according to Xinhua.[/quote] [url=http://www.smh.com.au/world/chinese-billionaire-mining-tycoon-liu-han-is-executed-over-his-links-to-a-mafiastyle-gang-20150209-139w2z.html]SMH[/url]

China will never be rid of corruption. It is endemic in their culture. The entire idea of guanxi breeds cronyism and nepotism.

[QUOTE=Headhumpy;47109721]China will never be rid of corruption. It is endemic in their culture. [B]The entire idea of guanxi[/B] breeds cronyism and nepotism.[/QUOTE] Elaborate on this? I haven't heard of this. Why's it make those things so prevalent in Chinese culture?

Christ OP did you even read what you quoted in the article? The person executed had connections to the eldest son of a retired domestic security chief (literally the first sentence you quoted!), Liu Han wasn't the retired domestic security chief. And he didn't have connections with the 'mafia', implying a link to the American or Sicilian Mafia, he had ties to a 'mafia-style' gang.

[QUOTE=Crazy Ivan;47109736]Elaborate on this? I haven't heard of this. Why's it make those things so prevalent in Chinese culture?[/QUOTE] [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanxi"]It's like we're connected to a global information network or something...[/URL] [QUOTE]Guanxi describes the basic dynamic in personalized networks of influence, and is a central idea in Chinese society. In Western media, the pinyin romanization of this Chinese word is becoming more widely used instead of the two common translations—"connections" and "relationships"—as neither of those terms sufficiently reflects the wide cultural implications that guanxi describes.[1][/QUOTE] In short, it's a formalized version of scratching your back if you scratch mine, which is a straight line to corruption when you apply it to high-level positions of power and money.

[QUOTE=Crazy Ivan;47109736]Elaborate on this? I haven't heard of this. Why's it make those things so prevalent in Chinese culture?[/QUOTE] Favour for favour. Connections are used to leverage for various benefits. Basically it follows something like this "Hey, remember that time you took out a loan from me and I didn't charge interest. Yeah, now you can help me with something to wipe the slate clean" But the slate's never clean

[QUOTE=Crazy Ivan;47109736]Elaborate on this? I haven't heard of this. Why's it make those things so prevalent in Chinese culture?[/QUOTE] I saw a documentary in social studies about an experiment in a chinese kintergarten, where they were fighting for the right to be school president. It literally resolved to just the kids pulling strings on each other. One talented girl played her flute for the class, and the other candidates had assured she'd be publicly mocked. This even if it's a lower-scale representation still illustrates it. You get further in China by being a symbol of power than by being i.e. better educated.