The Madness of Chinese Bureaucracy under Xi Jinping

Crazy bureaucracy can make life 
extremely difficult in China,  

but now, the guy, who’s been making the 
problem worse, is vowing to fix it.  

Welcome to China Uncensored. I’m Chris Chappell.

Anyone who has ever interacted with bureaucracy 
knows that the experience is rarely pleasant.

But China under the Chinese Communist Party  

gives a whole new meaning to the 
term “bureaucracy”. For example,

back in 2015, a young woman 
applied for her teacher’s  

license. She was told that to get the license,

she needed to provide a clean criminal 
record from her neighborhood committee.

Not a bad idea. No one wants to see a 
criminal teacher. Unless, of course,  

you’re rewatching Breaking Bad for the 11th time.

But when she approached the neighborhood 
committee, they told her that before they  

could help her, they first needed to 
see proof of a clean criminal record…

from the local police.

The local police, however, first 
needed to see the right papers  

from the local criminal records unit 
before being able to give her the proof.

But the local unit first needed to see proof that 
there was proof of a clean criminal record.  

 

I’ve seen people have an easier time tracking 
down proof of a loving God! Case in point:  

how Cinnabons smell. Amen. 
At that absurd point,  

the woman was out of options. She was stuck in a 
bureaucratic loop where no government office was  

willing to take responsibility for something as 
simple as providing her with her clean criminal  

record so she could get her teacher’s license. 

It would have been easier for her to illegally  

forge proof, thus becoming a criminal 
while trying to prove she isn’t one.

After the case went viral on Chinese social 
media, one user commented that “every time  

you walk into a governmental place, there’s 
a sign saying ‘Serve the People’. But if  

you actually want to get something done, 
it’s virtually impossible to arrange it.” 


Now, obviously, horrendous bureaucracy 
is not solely a Chinese headache. You  

can find stories from all over the world 
about labyrinthine bureaucratic processes.

Still, in many ways, China is in a class of 
its own. Now I know why paper beats rock.

China’s population is huge, and, therefore, so 
is its bureaucracy. In 2015, official Chinese  

sources estimated conservatively that around 45 
million people worked in government in China – and  

it’s probably a lot more now, especially since the 
government has only expanded its reach since 2015.

To make matters worse, the Chinese legal system 
the bureaucracy is working with is a complex  

tapestry of laws, norms, and regulations 
woven together from ancient traditions,  

Communist doctrines, and modern reforms.

Obviously, you’d expect some 
problems to come out of that,

but how about constantly proving you’re alive?

That is what Chinese seniors have 
had to deal with in recent years,  

as officials require them to regularly 
return to the municipality that originally  

issued their identity documents to 
prove that they are still breathing  

if they want to access their welfare funds.
It makes me tired just thinking about it.

A few years back, a video went viral on Weibo 
showing a 90-year-old man in a wheelchair who  

had traveled more than 60 miles across the central 
Hubei Province to prove he was, in fact, not dead.

When he arrived, he needed to be helped up the 
stairs to the social insurance office by three  

men so he could have his picture taken and give 
his fingerprints. And he has to go through that  

every year! It’s almost like they want him to 
see death as the more convenient option.    

But seniors aren’t the only ones 
dealing with this kind of thing.

In an equally extreme example, a 
Beijing resident that wanted to  

travel abroad had to first prove 
that his mother was in fact his  

mother in order to secure the proper 
papers that would allow him to travel.

What did they want, the birth video? 

That story even attracted the attention of 
China’s premier at the time, Li Keqiang,

who called the case “ridiculous”

and used it to harshly criticize the 
country's excessive regulation and red tape.

It’s so bad, I wouldn’t be surprised if 
they forced Chinese citizens to crawl  

out of their graves once a year 
to prove they’re actually dead.

But even though Li died in 2023,

calling for more common sense 
laws in China didn’t die with him.

In fact, that agenda has been picked up 
by a man that has always received louder  

applause than Li – Chinese 
supreme leader Xi Jinping.

In November, one of Xi’s government’s 
top organs released an announcement  

about optimizing government services 
and improving administrative efficiency.

Several similar announcements 
and policy presentations,  

like this one here,


have also been released 
by Xi and his top people this year. Yup,  

nothing says optimized and efficient 
like spending time and money on multiple  

announcements about how you’re going 
to improve optimization and efficiency.

It makes sense that Xi would take up this 
project. After all, he still needs to at  

least pretend a little bit to give the people of 
China what they need, and this reform is badly  

needed. The current system is a burden not only 
on China’s people, but also on Chinese businesses.

Recently, for example, an array of restaurants, 
shops, and factories throughout China’s southern  

Guangdong Province suddenly simply 
up and closed their doors for days.

The reason?

Well, some shop owners put up hilarious 
closure signs like, “closed today due to  

marital quarrel,” and “If we can’t make 
up, we’ll be closed tomorrow, too”...  

or “closed ‘cause I’m afraid of 
ghost” next to another sign saying  

“closed because neighbor’s scared 
of ghosts, and now I am, too”.

The only thing they’re missing is “closed  

because I can’t prove that I’m 
alive enough to run a shop.”

However, the real reason for the mass 
closures were rumors that there were going  

to be large-scale safety and environmental 
inspections carried out across the region.

The standards for safety inspections 
by Chinese officials are not always  

clear. And yet, failure to live up to 
them can result in fines so high that  

the businesses have to close shop. Permanently.

As one shop owner explained on social 
media about the decision to close up:  

“If we close shop for three 
days, we’ll lose 2,000 yuan,  

but if we open the shop for inspection, 
we risk being fined 50,000 yuan.”

This tendency to issue huge 
fines has been made worse by  

the financial challenges facing 
many local governments lately,  

with one legal professional in Guangdong 
telling US media Radio Free Asia that…

safety inspections have become another 
way for local governments to raise money.

It’s like how the mafia used 
to shake businesses down for  

“protection money,” only instead these 
businesses were shaken down for money  

and left with no protection. The mafia 
is officially more moral than the CCP.

The result: it’s better to close 
up for a few days than to face an  

inspector who has been instructed 
to find something to fine you for.

Of course, local government offices denied this 
and quickly issued statements, posted comments,  

and released videos trying to dispel 
rumors of fines being handed out.

But with all the lies that come out of state-run 
media and government offices in China, many  

Chinese people put more faith in rumors they find 
online than in official government statements.  

Heck, I’d have more faith in Fleetwood 
Mac’s Rumours than anything the CCP says.

So in response to one government 
video trying to refute rumors about  

safety inspections posted on the 
Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin,

some people commented that the whole affair 
reminded them of back in early 2020, when  

people were arrested for spreading “rumors” about 
an outbreak of a new strain of pneumonia in Wuhan.

Luckily, that was the end of that pneumonia story.

Given the many problems plaguing the 
Chinese bureaucracy, plenty of people  

are ecstatic about Xi’s claims that 
he’s going to slash red tape in China.

However, the fact is that Xi 
is a big part of the reason  

why China’s bureaucracy is the way it is today.

Xi’s had near absolute power in China for 
more than 10 years now, during which time he  

has aggressively centralized power around him. 


And centralization always means more bureaucracy.

On top of that, the Chinese government has 
in recent years demanded that bureaucrats  

need to be well-versed in Xi’s own 
philosophy, also known as Xi Jinping  

Thought, as a way to make sure that 
everyone sticks to the party line.

That means millions of Chinese 
officials have had to study and  

take tests on things like Xi’s 
directives and his speeches.

That’d be like if US government officials had 
to memorize every speech Donald Trump gave on  

The Apprentice . Congrats on making Donald Trump 
seem subtle and less narcissistic by comparison.

Now, if you think that sounds like 
straight-up torture, it gets worse.

Since the beginning of 2024, this Xi-branded 
speaker/power bank 


has been distributed  

to officials so that they can freely 
listen to any of 72 essays explaining  

Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with 
Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. 

I would rather pay a 50k fine 72 
times than be alone with that thing.  

These education campaigns about 
ideology and theory inevitably  

take time away from other things, 
like maybe cleaning up the messy  

bureaucracy or providing better 
services for the Chinese people.

At the same time, since Xi came to power,  

the Chinese bureaucracy has been 
rocked by one anti-corruption campaign

after another,

after another,

after– you get the picture. 

Just recently,  

Xi called for the Chinese Communist Party 
to turn the knife inwards to end corruption.

As if enough people haven’t 
been backstabbed already.

It’s not that corruption in China’s 
bureaucracy hasn’t been a big problem  

that should be dealt with. 
But according to Reuters,  

“despite the sweeping crackdowns, the 
party continues to be plagued by graft.”

Maybe because a lot of these so-called 
anti-corruption purges are actually  

just yet another way for Xi to 
centralize power around himself. 

Add to that, that these purges constantly 
risk paralyzing the state bureaucracy,  

as officials can disappear 
from one day to the next,  

while those that remain are left fearing 
whether they will be locked up next.

The atmosphere is so bad that some 
officials take drastic measures,  

like not answering their work phones 
or refusing to write instructions on  

documents in order to avoid the risk of 
exposing themselves to danger just in  

case corruption investigators are 
soon to come to a town near them.

For other bureaucrats, dreaded investigations into  

illegal activities have led them to 
work very carefully within the rules  

and leave a detailed paper trail every step 
of the way in whatever work they carry out.

Because of that, many local officials 
have become overwhelmed with paperwork,  

and a culture has emerged where leaving 
a perfect paper trail to satisfy would-be  

inspectors has become more important 
than completing actual tasks.

In fact, according to the Diplomat, 
many officials now believe that their  

only responsibility is paperwork and that the 
success of any policy has little to do with them.

The entire system is basically a giant stationary 
bike, where no matter how hard you work,  

you never get anywhere. But without the 
benefit of shaping and toning your glutes.

In such a system where paperwork, ideology, 
and fear often beat out pragmatism, common  

sense, and a sense of security, Xi can cut 
and stab at red tape as much as he wants,  

but it is difficult to see how that will 
fix many of the major issues with the  

Chinese bureaucracy when a lot of them 
are a reaction to Xi’s leadership style.

In this case, paper even beats Xi’s scissors.

That’s why the best solution for China’s 
bureaucracy, the people that work in it,  

and the people that depend on it, is 
perhaps for Xi to pack his knives and  

ideologies away and take a huge step 
back from the whole governing thing.

Maybe he could instead take a walk down to 4-5 
different public offices dedicated to “serving the  

people” and invest some time in trying to update 
his paperwork. After all, can the government be  

sure that Xi’s mother is actually his mother? 
And has he even proven that he’s alive this year?

Now recently, you might have noticed YouTube 
trying to make it harder for you to learn  

what’s really happening in China. Secretly 
unsubscribing people. Deleting comments.  

Over the last several weeks, China Uncensored’s 
views have tanked; meanwhile we’ve seen YouTube  

promote a lot of pro-China content. Or is 
this just my imagination? You tell me. 

Seriously. Please fill out this survey to let 
us know what you’ve experienced—if everything’s  

totally normal, or if YouTube is doing some 
kind of suppression. The link is below.

Once again, I’m Chris 
Chappell. See you next time.