Keywords: Chongqing official sex video; Commerical naming rights

Chongqing official sacked over sex video

A district official in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality was sacked on Friday after he was identified in a sex video exposed on the Internet.

Investigations by the Chongqing Municipal Committee for Discipline Inspection verified that Lei Zhengfu, Party chief of Chongqing's Beibei district, was the subject in a video filmed in 2007.

The scandal surfaced after screenshots from the video were posted by Ji Xuguang, an investigative journalist, on his official Weibo account on Tuesday. He also claimed Lei had used his power to benefit the interests of his brother and mistress, as well as interfered in a judicial investigation.

Chinese media outlets praised the Chongqing government's quick removel of Lei and the increasingly important role Weibo is playing in exposing scandal and fighting corruption – at times outperforming the government's own anti-corruption mechanisms.

Yu Deqing, a regular contributor to Beijing News, considers the Internet as one of the best anti-corruption tools the government has at its disposal.

Yu pointed out that Lei's case was by far one of the fastest in which the government handled such a scandal, revealing the governments increased reliance on Weibo.

"Monitoring anti-corruption online is not only legal, but also a matter of public interest. A competent government should be able to spot it and act quickly," Yu added.

Chinese blogger Han Han called for the government to speed up its anti-corruption reforms, which have proven a distant second to Weibo.

"Lei's case had been concealed for five years, which shows the ineffectiveness of the existing system," he wrote in an opinion piece for the Beijing News.

"Anti-corruption plays an important role, but the system is full of loopholes," echoed the Yunnan Information Daily.

"Online monitoring shouldn't replace government policy, as it lacks thoroughness. The government should increase its efforts to improve anti-corruption policy as soon as possible," read the article.

The Global Times (English edition) published an editorial suggesting there should be increased interaction between the government and netizens to help stamp out corruption.

"Weibo anti-corruption is becoming successful due to authorities' active response," read the article.

"Online supervision should help bring about clean governance and national progress, rather than create division and undermine social cohesion. And authorities at the same time must catch up and follow closely in this process, lest they appear passive."

Commerical naming rights scrubbed from Wuhan subway plan

Corporate-sponsored names will be removed and replaced at nine new subway stations in Wuhan, Hubei Province following protest from residents, Wuhan Evening News reported on Sunday.

The Wuhan Metro Group informed the sponsors they would change the station names on the line 2 before it opened in late December, the report said.The naming rights of seven stations out of nine were auctioned in December last year to different companies for a total of 27.75 million yuan($4,230,000).

However, many netizens thought that naming a metro stop after a company, such as snack food maker Zhou Hei Ya, may have a negative effect on the city's image.

Although Chinese media urged the Wuhan Metro Group not to breach contract, most outlets called for the city to solicit the opinions of locals when naming public resources.

"Is it reasonable that Wuhan Metro Group unilaterally canceled the contract?  Will they refund the money paid by companies including damages?" commentator Xu Lifan wrote in an opinion piece for the Beijing Times.

"The heads of Wuhan Metro Group should respect the contract more than ordinary people," Xu added.

Beijing Youth Daily pointed out three lessons to be learned from the dispute, stressing that "not all naming rights are for sale."

"It's necessary to consult public opinion in such a case," read the opinion piece.

Chinese Business View urged the government to set up a series of regulations for the naming of public utilities.

"Commercial naming rights are common but informal in China," read the article. "Government should draft a series of regulations to restrict the commercial naming and prevent such cases in the future."