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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, August 25, 2002

China cracks down on fake diplomas

Jobless Beijinger Yan Haitao hoped his diploma from the Northeast China University of Finance and Economics would be the key to a better life. Instead he ended up spending six months in jail, along with the person who sold him the fake diploma on the street.


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Jobless Beijinger Yan Haitao hoped his diploma from the Northeast China University of Finance and Economics would be the key to a better life.

Instead he ended up spending six months in jail, along with the person who sold him the fake diploma on the street.

China is cracking down on the forging and dealing of bogus degrees and diplomas.

In university districts in big cities like Beijing, Wuhan and Guangzhou, strangers can often be found whispering in low voices, "Want a diploma?"

Most of the peddlers come from impoverished rural areas to earn a meager living in the cities. They are hired to roam the streets, selling or posting fly sheets advertising degrees and diplomas.

Higher education qualifications have become extremely valuable in China's grim employment market, creating a considerable market for fakes. In Shenzhen, mass production lines have been set up in underground companies.

"Fake qualifications disorder the job market by creating unfair competition," said Sun Yegang, director of the Academic Degree Committee of the State Council.

He said that if the phenomenon went unchecked, those with genuine qualifications would be hurt and there would be a great disincentive to study.

Figures from the 2002 population census show that the number of those who claimed to have an education equal to or higher than college level is 500,000 more than the official number registered in higher-learning colleges and universities in China.

An official with the Ministry of Education said that the census showed that at least 500,000 people in China held fake qualifications.

In an effort to fight the deception, many job service centers across China have opened authentication offices. However, most employers are still unaccustomed to verifying qualifications.

"The awareness of diploma verification has not yet got across," said Liu Yupin, director of the China Academic Degree and Graduate Education Development Center.

Liu said that the center received less than 100 requests from companies or institutions for authentication every year, and many were foreign organizations.

Most foreign schools would ask Chinese authentication departments or centers to verify diplomas after they receive applications from China. About 20 percent of diplomas were found to be bogus, Liu said.

The Supreme People's Court of China and the Supreme People's Procuratorate earlier this year ruled that both manufacturers and dealers of fake qualifications were guilty.

The Ministry of Education started last year to put its higher-learning qualification archive on the Internet. Many university websites also make documents of students and graduates available.


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