Article 5 of China’s Work Safety Law reads: “The principal person in charge of a production or business unit is the first responsible person for work safety in that unit and is fully responsible for its work safety. The other persons in charge are responsible for work safety within the scope of their duties.”
The law was adopted in 2002. Its latest revision dates from June 10, 2021.
Chinese local governments have adopted a shouwen fuze zhi, a system of responsibility of the first person asked. The city of Ningguo defines it: when a member of the public comes to a service window, calls, writes or asks for help, “the first member of staff who receives or accepts the matter bears the responsibility for handling it, answering, passing it on or guiding the person.”
A 2017 Chongqing rule for investment approvals goes further. The first department to receive an application must handle and answer it according to law, or coordinate with the other departments, “and be responsible to the applicant to the end.”
On August 25, 2014, China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development issued interim measures on the lifetime quality responsibility of the project heads of a building’s five responsible parties. After a building passes inspection, the developer must fix a permanent sign in a prominent place on it. The sign names the developer, the surveyor, the designer, the builder and the supervisor, and gives the name of each one’s project head.
These project heads are responsible for the quality of the building for its whole design life.
Beijing’s rules on the menqian sanbao system, “three guarantees in front of the door,” took effect on April 1, 1999. Shops and work units are responsible for an assigned zone outside their premises: its cleanliness, its greenery and its order. For cleanliness, the unit must “keep the assigned area clean, sweep the ground, and remove spit, dirt, waste, standing water and snow.”
A 2026 Guangzhou rule sets three duties of its own for each frontage: a clean environment, a tidy appearance and good order.
九龙治水 Nine dragons manage the water. Said when many agencies share one task and none of them answers for it.
In 2014, water hyacinth spread over the Yangtze near Ezhou. The CPPCC Daily ran the headline: “Many departments pass the buck, and no one takes charge.” The article said: “The key is to solve the problem of ‘nine dragons managing the water’ and unclear responsibilities.”
害群之马 The horse that harms the herd. A person who harms the whole group. The image comes from the Zhuangzi: “How is governing the world different from herding horses? One only removes the horse that harms the others.”
一根绳上的蚂蚱 Grasshoppers tied to one string. People in the same situation, none of whom can shirk responsibility.
有福同享，有难同当 Share the blessings, share the hardships.
In June 2014, the Party group of the Supreme People’s Court adopted a mechanism called yi an shuang cha, one case, two investigations. Where leaders let improper practices spread for a long time, or fail to stop, correct or report repeated serious corruption, “the responsibility of the person concerned is to be pursued, and the responsibility of the leaders concerned is also to be traced back and pursued.”
In January 2015, a commentary on the Party portal of People’s Daily called for keeping to the practice and pursuing the responsibility of the leaders as well.
Under the one-child policy, local governments applied a yi piao fojue, a one-vote veto, to family planning. Zhejiang’s measures of April 2007 applied it to any department or unit “in which a birth occurs that violates the laws and regulations on population and family planning.” A vetoed unit lost the right to compete for general honors and titles for that year and the next.
A 1998 article in the journal Population and Economics described a case from 1995. Wencheng town had concealed and falsely reported its figures, and the county vetoed the town’s whole family planning work. Village cadres who had under-reported lost the right to be considered for awards, and their year-end bonuses were deducted.
When a Chinese soldier wins a merit award, the army and the local government deliver a xibao, a letter of good news, to the soldier’s family. In January 2021, People’s Daily described one such delivery. “A delegation from the military and local departments carried banners, beat drums and gongs and set off firecrackers to bring the good news to Liu Menghai’s home. Neighbors formed waist-drum and yangge dance teams to come and congratulate.”
The same article describes the usual form: drums and gongs, banners, a sash and a large red flower for the soldier’s relatives, and a group photo.
In chapter 24 of Dream of the Red Chamber, the poor young relative Jia Yun asks Jia Lian for work. Jia Lian tells him that a job has just gone to Jia Qin, because his own wife, Wang Xifeng, “begged me again and again.” Jia Yun asks his uncle, who keeps a spice shop, for borneol and musk on credit. The uncle refuses.
A neighbor, the moneylender Ni Er, then lends him the money without interest and without a contract. “Since you speak of us as friends, how could I lend to you at interest?” Jia Yun takes the spices to Wang Xifeng as a gift. She is pleased, but she says nothing yet of the job she means to give him. She fears he would think she had promised him a post for a little incense.