The New York Times reports:

A Web site created by China’s anti-corruption bureau crashed after it began operating on Tuesday, overwhelmed by traffic from people wishing to file complaints, according to the Beijing Youth Daily newspaper.

When the site, which is operated by the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention, reappeared online Wednesday, it contained more than 250 complaints, including several claims of official corruption.

It’s not clear why the site went down. Was it due to a high volume of complaints or poor technical implementation? That’s unclear, but the episode was sure to elicit responses ranging from a chuckle to a guffaw from the China watching community.

As funny as this is, corruption is a serious problem in China. The National Bureau of Corruption Prevention (NBCP) is a new anti-corruption organization set up to attack the issue. People’s Daily explains:

The bureau was founded at a time when the country has seen many corruption scandals that have brought down a number of high-level officials, most notably former food and drug administration head Zhen Xiaoyu and former Shanghai Party head Chen Liangyu.

The NBCP planned to study methods to constantly improve corruption prevention systems, push for the sound operation of these systems and to coordinate the corruption prevention efforts of various departments, Ma said on Sept. 13 when the NBCP was launched.

The bureau has been entrusted to collect and analyze information from such sectors as banking, land use, medicine and telecom, among others, and to share it with relevant departments. These included prosecuting organs, courts and police authorities, among others. It would not, however, be involved in the investigation of individual cases.

It would seem that they have a broad remit to look under every rock - or perhaps check every phone record.

Further reading
The NBCP web site. Please don’t denounce too much.

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