Their deaths are as light as a feather

Among other things, one of the reasons why so many officials easily succumb to the temptation of illegal gains that can be obtained through the abuse of power is because they may never have thought of life from the perspective of the kingdom of the sick.

The obsequiousness of their subordinates has made their minds too numb to see clearly their own real self and the avalanche of bribes. The easy opportunities for rent-seeking blur their vision so they cannot see beyond the easy and immediate illegal gains.

Instead of having a guilty conscience about their abuses of power, they, instead, consider as idiots those who seek meaning in life by leading a prudent and frugal life and know where to toe the line, deeming it stupid not to make the best use of the power in their hands to get as much interest as they can.

A Chinese expression suits such people, xingshi zourou, or living corpse, indicating that they have no souls and no spiritual aspirations in life. As a result, they neither take life as seriously as they should nor take death as seriously as they should. The pursuit of material enjoyment and money becomes the only sustenance that supports them as a living corpse.

But once they are caught, they lose themselves and have no courage to face the reality as it is. Then death becomes the choice they make to solve things once and for all.

Unlike Christopher Hitchens or Susan Sontag, who had long been looking at life from different perspectives and knew pretty well how to accept death in a decent manner, these officials chose death only as a way to escape the punishment they deserved or to preserve for their family members the wealth they illegaly gained or not to implicate others in their crimes. Whether they kill themselves by jumping to their deaths from buildings, hanging themselves or by some other means, their deaths can never be said to be decent.

The most undesirable thing about these people is that they shut the door to atonement for the sins they have committed by killing themselves. In most cases, there is even no telling whether their suicide is an attitude of penitence for their offense or resistance to the investigation into their corruption. Oscar Wilde said: "Mortality, like art, means drawing a line someplace." Most of these officials have drawn the line in the wrong place.

The author is a senior writer with China Daily. zhuyuan@chinadaily.com.cn