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Recently, Qiao Zhizhong, former head of the Price Supervision and Management Section of the Datong Municipal Market Supervision Administration in Shanxi Province, reported under his real name that two deputy directors of the Market Supervision Administration abused their power for personal gain, failed to act and acted arbitrarily. He said that he was "ostracized, constrained, slandered and besieged" because he was unwilling to go along with the crowd. He claimed that he was suspended half a month after he reported the situation to the inspection team, which aroused concern.

China News Weekly learned that the Datong Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision has accepted and handled the issues reported by Qiao Moumou in his real name regarding the leaders in charge, Feng Moumou and Yu Moumou, and conducted an investigation in accordance with regulations, discipline and laws. Based on the results of the investigation, Feng Moumou and Yu Moumou have been given warnings and admonishments respectively.

On the evening of August 6, China Newsweek met with the whistleblower Qiao Zhizhong at the Datong Municipal Supervision Bureau. That afternoon, he had just learned about the investigation results of the matter from the case handlers of the Datong Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision, and he was still dissatisfied with the results.

Qiao Zhizhong reported two deputy directors in person (video screenshot)

The outbreak of contradictions

Datong Municipal Market Supervision Administration is a new department established as a result of Datong’s institutional reform. It was formed in 2019 by merging the three bureaus of Industry and Commerce, Quality Supervision, and Food and Drug Administration. It also incorporated functions and personnel such as price supervision, salt industry supervision, intellectual property and patent supervision, and liquor supervision into one office.

According to the director of the bureau, Du Fu, who spoke to China Newsweek, due to the merger of multiple departments and the adjustment of staffing, there have been few new employees in the past few years due to the shortage of staff, and the aging phenomenon is more prominent. According to statistics, 60% of the employees are over 50 years old, and only 10.4% are under 40 years old. With the integration of multiple institutions, the different work processes and styles of various departments have also brought challenges to the coordination and running-in of personnel.

Qiao Zhizhong, born in 1968, previously worked in the price supervision department of the Datong Municipal Development and Reform Commission. He continued to work in price supervision after he came to the Municipal Supervision Bureau. He was gradually promoted from a clerk to a section chief. The two deputy directors he reported were successively in charge of the price supervision and management section where he worked (hereinafter referred to as the "price supervision section").

Qiao Zhizhong attended a press conference (file footage)

From 2019 to 2022, Deputy Director Feng was in charge of the Price Supervision Section. Qiao Zhizhong felt that Feng had some problems in his work, so he began to collect relevant information. In May 2022, another deputy director took over the work. According to the bureau, this was a normal personnel change under the three-year rotation system.

In the interview with Qiao Zhizhong, he showed great confidence in his professionalism. Qiao believed that Deputy Director Yu had previously been mainly engaged in food and drug administration-related work, and that "an outsider managing insiders" had gradually led to constant conflicts in their work.

Qiao Zhizhong claimed that Deputy Director Yu suppressed his work and repeatedly refused to approve his going out to handle cases. Deputy Director Yu told China Newsweek that Qiao, as a section chief, could not complete the work assigned by him, was not very good at using computers at work, could not complete the paperwork plan, and his case handling method still retained the habits of many years ago, using paper writing instead of the current electronic documents to form files. The case application was too brief, so his application was rejected. Yu also pointed out that Qiao did not inform his superiors when he went out to handle cases. "Qiao never reported to me anything and acted on his own." Qiao also refuted this, saying that it was impossible for him not to report. "How can I carry out my work if I don't report? This logic doesn't make sense."

In December 2022, the Datong Municipal Market Supervision Administration made a decision to adjust its work. Deputy Director Yu was no longer in charge of the Price Supervision Section, and Qiao was no longer the head of the Price Supervision Section. In Qiao's view, this was because he had just reported the problem to the Commission for Discipline Inspection Inspection Team in November 2022, and it was a "punishment" for himself. "This must be a direct causal relationship. I think this is a suspension."

The director of the bureau, Du Fu, told China News Weekly that the personnel adjustment was not related to the report. The bureau did not know that Qiao had reported the situation to the inspection team at the time. Because the two had difficulty cooperating at work and "the contradiction was too big to be resolved", the personnel adjustment was made in order not to affect the price supervision work. Both parties were transferred from their original positions. Deputy Director Yu was no longer in charge of price supervision and turned to the direction of food and drug supervision. Qiao was never suspended and his salary was paid normally. The price supervision section was changed to be in charge of Deputy Director Feng.

After he stopped working as the section chief, the bureau talked to him many times and asked for Qiao's wishes. Qiao Zhizhong actually had no intention of going anywhere else. Qiao said that he had become a "three-no person", with no job, no department, and no position. In November 2023, according to Qiao Zhizhong's wishes, he was transferred to the Veteran Department. In February 2024, Qiao was transferred to a drug inspection specialist at the same level.

Is the report true?

Qiao Zhizhong formally wrote a report to the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision after the May Day holiday in 2023.

At the beginning of 2023, the Price Supervision Section had a new section chief, Yang, who was previously in charge of the law enforcement team. Qiao believes that the new section chief is an "outsider". During the May Day holiday in 2023, there was a sharp increase in tourism accommodation prices. Qiao believes that this was due to inadequate price supervision. He believes that effective intervention should be made on hotel prices, but the relevant leaders "did not act".

Deputy Director Feng told China Newsweek that hotel prices should be mainly regulated by the market and the government should not intervene too much.

In Qiao Zhizhong's opinion, this kind of price increase constitutes price gouging. If he was still the head of the Price Supervision Section at the time, he would punish one or two companies with thundering means to stop the skyrocketing hotel prices, "catch a few typical cases and punish them, make an example of them and shock the market."

According to "Datong Release", the "Notice on the Investigation and Handling of Illegal and Irregular Behaviors in the Tourism Accommodation Industry during the May Day Period in Our City" issued on May 25, 2023 shows that during the May Day period, some accommodation industry operators ignored laws and regulations, arbitrarily raised prices to deceive customers, infringed on consumers' rights and interests, and seriously disrupted the order of the tourism accommodation market. In response to this, Datong City's market supervision department and public security organs investigated and dealt with 20 tourism-related hotels and other accommodation industry violations in accordance with the law and regulations, and issued a notice.

The picture shows a screenshot of the announcement at that time

Deputy Director Feng and then-Price Supervision Section Chief Yang both told China Newsweek that before the 2023 May Day holiday, they had repeatedly issued reminders to relevant accommodation units to try their best to stabilize the price situation, and promptly investigated and dealt with any illegal and irregular behaviors that still occurred. The intensity of the above notice is rare in the province. Deputy Director Feng said that he was given a warning after the May Day incident last year.

In Qiao Zhizhong's report, in addition to the cases similar to the above that he considered to be "inaction", there were also cases of "abuse of power for personal gain" that he discovered.

Among the evidence provided by Qiao Zhizhong, a recording showed that a company manager said he had given Deputy Director Feng "at least 10,000 yuan" in the hope that the company would be punished less severely. Deputy Director Feng responded that Qiao Zhizhong was setting him up, "He specifically told the company to find Director Feng to solve the problem. After the company found me, he called the company to trick them into saying that I had received money."

Another recording showed that a drugstore owner revealed that he gave Deputy Director Yu 3,000 yuan every Chinese New Year. Qiao Zhizhong speculated, "There are so many drugstores in the city. If each one gives 3,000 yuan a year, how much money can he receive in a year?" There are several similar recordings in the evidence collected by Qiao Zhizhong, which directly or indirectly point to the two deputy directors accepting benefits from enterprises and reaching an exchange of interests.

The above report has not been confirmed. According to China News Weekly, in March and late July this year, the two deputy directors who were reported were given warnings.

Regarding this result, Qiao Zhizhong said that he "cannot accept just a warning. What is the characterization of the two people?"

The bureau's director Du Fu told China Newsweek that the bureau had communicated with Qiao Zhizhong many times, urging him to trust the investigation of the Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision and persuade him to return to work.

Qiao Zhizhong believes that he has "give it all up and there is no turning back. I wanted to make use of my remaining energy and achieve something, but I wasted these five years in vain."

Author: Liu Tiantian

Editor: Huang Yuxi