Editor’s note: On July 11, Rui Chenggang, a well-known television presenter at CCTV, was arrested moments before he was due to present his daily business program. The surprise arrest came two months after his boss was detained on suspicion of taking bribes. This article, which was translated from Ifeng Blogs, was written by Wang Sixiang, a prominent Chinese scholar.  In this damning essay, Wang not only heavily criticizes Rui and backs up his disdain for him with real-life examples of Rui acting out of line, he hints towards a wider set of issues threatening to rot the integrity of Chinese media from within.

There is a saying that persisting in one’s evil ways brings about one’s own self destruction. In accordance with this saying, retribution has been brought down on Rui Chenggang. On July 11, he was prosecuted and detained.

If CCTV is the main representative of the Chinese global media, then Rui Chenggang is now the prominent example of CCTV’s disgrace. I have previously written articles that have criticized Rui. Now, while many have told me not to kick him while he is down, I must continue with my criticism. It makes me happy to be able to continue to voice my opinion on the subject; and for those who still think highly of Rui, I will detail his past humiliations and disgraceful events.

Four examples of disgraceful behavior

The first disgraceful event happened in 2007, when Rui Chenggang wrote a blog entry challenging the existence of a Starbucks coffee shop in the Forbidden City. In his article, Rui wrote that Starbucks is a Western brand and “a symbolic representative of unrefined food culture.” Furthermore, he saw the existence of a Starbucks in the Forbidden City as a “cultural invasion.” 

Starbucks is an exceptional symbol of contemporary commercial culture. In China today, there are 1,200 Starbucks stores in 68 different cities. The company also has nearly 20,000 partners in China. According to Rui’s logic, China contains thousands of these unrefined symbols and nearly 20,000 Chinese citizens are involved in an unrefined business. Starbucks also plans to publicly invest 3 million US Dollars in China within the next three years.

Rui’s Starbucks blog post was merely a patriotic, populist gimmick. His article was defamatory and drew outrageous parallels. Those who are shameless can always succeed in China. This time, Rui was able to successfully banish a Starbucks store. After the Forbidden City Starbucks was closed, it was replaced by a “Forbidden City” branded beverage shop that still sold coffee. Is this new coffee shop more refined? Starbucks is a multinational company and the Forbidden City did not honor its contract. If Starbucks sued the Forbidden City for a unilateral breach of contract, it would have a one hundred percent chance of winning the case.

I suspect that the entire incident was a case of premeditated fraud. The commercial company received a settlement for having to close its branch and Rui received an unknown sum as his cut. Rui used populism and the idea of Chinese cultural superiority as political tools; the whole ordeal was a very shameful victory.

The second disgraceful event happened when Rui Chenggang claimed to represent all of China and Asia at an important world summit.

On April 7, 2009, Rui Chenggang asked Barack Obama questions at the G20 summit in London. In the first question he said he was asking “on behalf of China.” The second question was “on behalf of the whole world.” A year ago, at the previous G20 summit, CCTV also sent Rui Chengang to cover the meeting (doesn’t CCTV have anyone else to send?). Obama had stated that the last question would go to the South Korean media. To this, Rui stood up and said, I come from China, and I ask questions on behalf of all of Asia. The audience booed him. Obama replied that he had clearly stated that the last question had been given to South Korea. Rui clung to the microphone and said: all of the Asian reporters here agree that I represent them.

The pitiful Chinese, represented countless times. CCTV consistently acts a representative for the Chinese people. Lots of stupidity goes on within the “Big Pants” CCTV building. CCTV reporters also act as representatives, so much that they want to speak on behalf of all of Asia. Their representation disgraces us as a people.

The third shameful incident occurred in September 2011 at the World Economic Forum in Davos. At the forum, Rui asked U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke if he “flew economy class in order to remind the participants that the United States owed China money.” Locke answered with a smile that American civil servants customarily fly economy class.

Locke’s down to earth style had previously won him favor amongst Chinese citizens. At the same time, Chinese citizens were fed up with Chinese civil servants who consume luxury goods with taxpayers’ money. These Chinese officials were very uncomfortable when faced with public criticism over their spending habits. When Rui questioned Locke, he was representing this group of Chinese officials. He did not expect to be disgraced after criticizing the ambassador.

The fourth shameful incident occurred when Rui complained that a 200,000 Yuan annual salary was too low for a party secretary.

In April, 2012, Rui questioned why NBA players like Yao Ming made up to 40 or 50 million Yuan every year, while the Yangzhou Municipal Committee secretary Xie Zhengyi only received an annual salary of 2 million Yuan. He said that if they both worked hard, why was there such as large difference?

Whether Yao Ming’s income was 50 million Yuan or 5 billion Yuan, Rui had no grounds to question it. The party secretary’s salary, on the other hand, came from the taxpayers’ pockets, not from the market. Did the taxpayers all agree to give the party secretary a raise on his (already quite high) 200,000 Yuan salary?

Rui exploited his position

There is a pattern here: Rui Chenggang used every opportunity to act as a spokesperson for the Chinese people. He exploited CCTV in order to get close to powerful figures and often posted photos of himself with influential global officials. At the same time, he exploited the concept of patriotism and used the Chinese flag as a shield. The Chinese people are now beginning to understand that high-profile patriots are generally merely thieves. Eight years ago, I wrote an essay criticizing this kind of traitor: the patriotic thief.

Rui Chenggang’s predecessor Bai Yansong once said that even an idiot working at CCTV could become a well-known star because CCTV itself is extremely popular. Rui did not know that he himself would become that idiot. Now he has been exposed, and there will be retribution.

Rui was reportedly detained on charges of “the exploitation of reporting to gain profits.” In fact, many Chinese journalists have committed similar crimes: using their media privilege for personal financial benefit.

Rui Chenggang has disgraced CCTV, journalism and all of China. Chinese media have always been scum and Rui is just one representative of their disgracefulness.

Source: ifeng.com

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Keywords: Rui Chenggang