This week's Chronicle of Higher Education (Sept. 21, p. A39) reports that "According to government statistics, 600,000 fake diplomas are circulating in China, although many officials suspect that the actual number is much higher." It seems that most of them are counterfeit diplomas of real schools, rather than actual diplomas of fake schools (although there are plenty of the latter operating there). The government started a system of ID numbers to counter the problem, but the article says that the counterfeiters have figured out how to work around it, and furthermore, insiders at real universities are selling "diplomas with real identification numbers for hefty prices." The scope of this corruption, even at the level admitted by the government, is staggering. What are these 600,000+ people doing with their fake diplomas? Wonder how many are involved in design of the Three Gorges Dam or safety at the Yangcheng nuclear power plant, or for that matter security at the 2008 Olympics?
Not to worry. Even a badly engineered tank can crush students, dissent, and democratic activity. China has about one-fifth the world's population. It's time they stepped up with a commensurate amount of corruption. Maybe this is a step up from counterfeiting Little Red Books? Rich Douglas
