14 DAY TRIAL // During the last Chinese exam for civil services, more than 1,000 participants were caught copying and cheating the system in various ways, ranging from micro-earpieces to wireless transmitters, the national Xinhua press agency announced.
More than 300 cheaters were caught on the spot by supervisors, during the November 30 exam, while approximately other 700 were deemed as using illicit means of obtaining information because their papers "shared much conformity." That is to say, they were almost identical, according to the report.
"We can hardly trust these people to cheat only on exams. What if they cheat in the exercise of public power once they are put in a public position?" an editorialist in the English language version of China Daily asked on Monday. "Such dishonesty in exams raises suspicions about their motivations to get access to public power."
According to the official handout, most of the participants were caught cheating for positions in Beijing, with the second largest number registered in the northeastern province of Liaoning. Western observers were quick to point out that the announcement made by the State Bureau of Civil Servants only served to point out Beijing's inability to deal with corruption within the ranks of the Communist party itself, let alone with that in lower structures.
Social experts say that the main reason why test participants cheated on the civil exam was because in China, as in any Communist party, being a part of the state apparatus was synonymous with being powerful. Public servants in all such regimes need to be bribed in order for any paper to move ahead, and so anyone with the appropriate preparation takes the exam in order to secure such a position, which will only bring him or her benefits in the long-run.
"Both designers of the exam system and emperors, who were the top leaders of the government, knew how dangerous it could be to put power in the hands of a corrupt, immoral person," the same editorial, which reminded the newspaper's readers that in Ancient times cheaters caught at such exams were apprehended and executed by authorities, said.