Tase him, bro! New game in China lets you zap corrupt government officials

A new web game has appeared in China that lets you taser corrupt government officials. Given how touchy Chinese state-run media can be about things like corruption – or, indeed, any subject whatsoever – it’s perhaps surprising this this browser-based game was created by the People’s Daily, which is often called the government’s mouthpiece paper. You can find the HTML5 game here.

In the game you have a tazer and have to zap the corrupt officials that pop up – whack-a-mole style – without hitting the police officers that also pop up in the eight prison windows. There’ll be 100 people popping up in each round, and you have to score as much as possible. You lose 100 points for zapping a policeman.

Authorities in Beijing are in the midst of a major clampdown on government corruption. State news agency Xinhua said this week that China is investigating almost 37,000 officials suspected of corruption in the past year. In 2013, the country also cracked down on profligate spending on banquets, gifts, and other highly visible extravagances.

(Hat-tip to CNBC’s Deirdre Wang Morris for pointing this out on Twitter)

(Editing by Josh Horwitz)