How it’s done

If you know what’s good for you

IN THE AMERICAN system, you’d go to a lawyer first. (What a country!) You’d plead innocent in your first court appearance, no matter your plans later. Then you’d likely go free on some kind of bail, even a signature bail, and help your lawyers with your case the best you could. If no deal could be reached, you’d eventually go to trial, a public trial, in which you would be presumed innocent until the state proved its case.

That’s the American system. Nobody would confuse it with the system on mainland China.

The ChiComs like to work a little more . . . efficiently. Their court system follows the same pattern of their political system. Why leave it to chance that something doesn’t work? Or as a devoted communist once explained to a curious Westerner who wanted to know the allure of totalitarism: What good do elections do if the wrong side wins?

For a primer on how the Red Chinese do business, take the case of young Ms. Fan Bingbing. Our younger readers might recognize her from the Marvel movies. She’s probably the most famous actress on mainland China. (The free Chinese, for the record, live on Taiwan, and have since Chiang Kai-shek.)

The big-time actors and actresses in China have developed a system to cheat the government there. They sign what’s been called “yin and yang” contracts, in which one total is sent to the government for tax purposes, and the real total is very much something else. Rumors had it that the authorities had had it. And cracked down.

Which is what governments do, including our own. There are tax rules, and whole agencies are devoted to finding tax cheats. Not to mention handing out punishments for tax criminals.

But even the IRS wouldn’t disappear somebody.

Fan Bingbing dropped from public view four months ago. Habeas corpus? The Chinese don’t need no habeas corpus.

When she was allowed to speak to her fans again, the first time since early June, she did so through the state media in Beijing. She was fined $70 million, and, to top it off, issued a contrite apology, because she knows what’s good for her.

From her apology: “Recently I have endured an unprecedented amount of pain . . . ” (And we don’t doubt it.) “I feel ashamed and guilty for what I did, and here, I offer my sincere apology to everyone. For a long period of time, I did not uphold the responsibility of safeguarding the interests of my country and our society against my personal interests. I feel ashamed that I committed tax evasion in ‘Unbreakable Spirit’ and other projects by taking advantage of ‘split contracts.’ Throughout these days of my cooperation with the taxation authorities’ investigation of my accounts as well as my company’s, I have realized that, as a public figure, I should’ve observed the law, setting a good example for society and the industry. I shouldn’t have lost my ability to govern myself in the face of economic interests, leading myself to break the law. Here I sincerely apologize to society, friends who care about me, the public and the taxation authorities.”

Yes, do apologize to the taxation authorities, otherwise known as The Party. Otherwise, she might have found herself a head shorter.

This is how things are done on mainland China, otherwise known as the People’s Republic of China, which is neither the people’s nor a republic. No need to go through the hassle of finding a lawyer there. When the government wants you, the government gets you. And fines you. And even issues an apology from you.

A very tidy system, that.