外媒关注中国“房姐”肯定政府反腐决心

Cases of officials gaming China's strict residence registration system for property-buying sprees prompt public backlash.

A public security official in southern China purchased 192 properties with the help of a fake identification card, state media reported.

Zhao Haibin, a high-level Communist party official in Lufeng city's public security bureau, was exposed online for alleged excessive property buying by a local multimillionaire amid a business dispute. Zhao claimed the properties belonged to his brother, but admitted to forging an identification card.

Identity fraud has become a recurring theme in property scandals after a senior executive at a bank in Shaanxi province was outed last month for purchasing 41 properties with fake residence registration permits, called hukou in Mandarin.

China's new leader Xi Jinping has embarked on a high-profile anti-corruption crackdown since he took the reins of the Communist party in the autumn.

"This kind of story, it underscores the fact that it's very hard to know how much property people have," said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a Chinese politics expert at Hong Kong Baptist University. "Because usually what they've done is to register the properties under relatives' names, friends' names and companies' names, so it's a real maze, and it's hard for the authorities to really pare down this kind of practice."

Internet users nicknamed Gong "House Elder Sister" and Zhao "House Grandpa", a play on the netizen-dubbed "Uncle House" – a 59-year-old Guangdong official who made headlines last autumn for owning 22 properties despite his meagre government salary.

"There are practical, logical and symbolic reasons" for the major public backlash against these cases, said Cabestan. "For a long time Chinese people didn't have access to property, it was a dream."

Furthermore, massive property investments by corrupt officials have contributed to a spike in housing prices, making even modest apartments unaffordable for ordinary people. "For young couples, it's getting very hard – it's impossible without their parents' help to buy property," he said. "This is contributing to widening [China's] social gap."

近日，中国数名官员违反严格的户籍制度购入大量房产的事件引发了公众的强烈谴责。

据官方媒体报道，中国南方某地一名公安局官员利用假身份证购买了192套房产。

广东省陆丰市公安局党委委员赵海滨被曝光持有大量房产，举报人是当地的一名亿万富豪，因一起商业纠纷发现了这一秘密。赵海滨声称这些房产归他弟弟所有，但承认伪造了身份证。

上月，陕西省某地一位副行长龚爱爱因被曝伪造户籍文件（也称户口）购入41套住房而被刑事拘留。此后，又有多位官员的购房丑闻被曝光。

中国新任领导人习近平自去年秋季就任中共中央总书记以来，就开始高调反腐。

香港浸会大学的中国政治专家让•皮埃尔•卡贝斯坦说：“这种资讯让大家看到，想要清楚地知道人们有多少房产是很困难的，因为有些人会把房产登记在亲友和公司的名下，所以很难分辨。因此政府想要打击这种行为也很困难。”

网民将龚爱爱称为“房姐”，将赵海滨称为“房爷”，这些绰号来自于“房叔”。“房叔”是广东的一位59岁的前官员，去年秋天因为被曝光持有22套房产，远远超过公职收入而得此名。

卡贝斯坦说，此类事件引发了公愤，“是有实际的、合乎常理、且具有象征意义的原因。长期以来中国民众都觉得房价过高，很多人买不起房，拥有住房成为很多人的梦想。”

而且，腐败官员的大量房产投资也抬高了房价，使普通人无力购买一般的公寓住宅。他说：“对年轻夫妇来说，买房越来越难，不啃老就买不起房。这也加剧了社会分化。”