Preface:
In 1955, the public security department uncovered a very egregious fraud case. The victims were not ordinary people but local officials of the Chinese Communist Party. The scammers forged Zhou Shidi's personal letter to seek positions. This liar had been cheating for many years before this, but he never thought that his poor performance would be exposed this time when he went to Xi'an.
Li Wanming
Who is this liar? How did he cheat?
A teenager was imprisoned many times for fraud
In 1957, the Minister of Public Security Luo Ruiqing introduced a fraud case named Li Wanming in his work report. He hoped that someone could write this person's deeds into a satirical drama to serve as a teaching material for educating the masses. Lao She volunteered to accept the task and created the drama "Looking West to Chang'an".
In 2007, Lao She's drama "Looking West to Chang'an" was performed at the Poly Theater in Beijing to commemorate the centenary of Chinese drama. In the play, the leading actor Ge You plays the liar "Li Wancheng" and uses humor to present the image of a liar before people's eyes.
The prototype of "Li Wancheng" Li Wanming, also known as Li Ming, was born in Ankang County, Shaanxi Province in 1927. According to Li Wanming's recollection, there was a twin brother born with him named Li Wanyu. Although they were born to the same mother and only a few minutes apart, the two brothers have completely opposite personalities.
"Looking West to Chang'an" stills
The younger brother Li Wanming has a gentle personality and is sincere and kind since he was a child, while the elder brother Li Wanming learned from his father's behavior and misbehaved since he was a child, cheating and cheating.
The Li family is a local landlord. His family has opened a grain store, a wine shop and a mountain goods store. In order to make money, his father mixed water in the wine and fake goods in the goods; in order to attract business, his father hung a sign on the counter that said "The children are innocent and the goods are genuine". Influenced by his father, Li Wanming gradually learned bad habits.
When he was in middle school in Ankang County, Li Wanming stole the school's public property . The person in charge of the school communicated with his parents many times, but still received no response. Li Wanming, who was not punished in any way, went even further and secretly changed his report card after a certain exam to deceive the teacher. As a result, his teacher found out that he was stubborn and stubborn, so he was expelled from the school. After
was expelled, Li Wanming not only did not feel a trace of shame, he even took the exam for his younger brother at the instigation of his father. Back then, when the county bank was recruiting candidates, his younger brother Li Wanyu only had a primary school education and was not sure of passing the exam, so his father asked Li Wanming to take the exam for him. After passing the exam, Li Wanyu officially went to work.
Stills from "Looking West to Chang'an"
This "cheating" experience was a great success. Li Wanming was very happy. He gradually believed that cheating was not a big deal, which basically laid the path for his subsequent development.
In 1945, Li Wanming, who was cheating in his hometown, wanted to "develop" outside the country. He joined the Kuomintang, and later signed up to join the Kuomintang Youth Army and served as a warrant officer political officer of the 207th Division. Li Wanming regarded Chiang Kai-shek as his idol. He gradually became ambitious and had a deep obsession with fame, fortune, status, and high officials and generous salaries.
After hitting the wall many times in the officialdom, Li Wanming felt that he did not have the ability to be a high official, so he returned to his old career, thinking that "cheating" was the only way. He was ready to make a move and began to falsely claim his retirement pay. Unexpectedly, he was discovered by others and was imprisoned in an army prison for three months in accordance with military law.
In 1949, when Nanjing was liberated, Li Wanming saw the opportunity and concealed his history as a Kuomintang soldier. He lied that he was a college student at the Central University of Political Science and Law, and enrolled in the Military and Political University of the Second Field Army of the People's Liberation Army. He graduated in October of the same year.
After graduation, Li Wanming and his classmate Liu Zhongyi from Military and Political University lied that they were going to work in the Southwest Work Group and obtained school appraisal materials and letters of introduction. According to the seal style on the letter of introduction, Li Wanyu privately engraved the official seal of the Political Department of Erye Military and Political University and the private seal of the person in charge, and forged a letter of introduction to work in the Changzhou Municipal People's Government.
Because Li Wanyu was so good at engraving seals, no one saw through it.Relying on the letter of introduction, Li Wanyu obtained the position of construction section clerk of Changzhou Municipal Government. But within a few days, Li Wanyu's official addiction began to set in again. He felt that this position was too low, so he resorted to the same tactics, forging seals and letters of introduction, pretending to be the party member education section chief of the "Second Field Army Congress". He was injured and disabled in the Huaihai Battle, and requested to go to Suzhou to be assigned work.
Li Wanming thought that this fraud would go through smoothly, but his clumsy performance was quickly discovered by the Human Resources Department of the Southern Jiangsu Administrative Office. They carefully read Li Wanming's certification materials and found that there were obvious loopholes in it. For example, he claimed to be a member of the Communist Party, but he did not have a letter of introduction to the party membership.
Li Wanming
asked Li Wanming carefully, but he hesitated and couldn't understand. The staff immediately saw through his lie. Li Wanming was immediately arrested and sentenced to three years in prison by the Wuxi People's Court.
It was not until the end of 1950 that Li Wanming was released from prison on parole and returned to Nanjing.
Persevered and continued to defraud
One year in prison did not make Li Wanming repent. After being released from prison, he immediately found a classmate at Military and Political University, borrowed a military family certificate, and then ran to Chu County, Anhui Province to look for opportunities to commit fraud.
Li Wanming used his old tricks to privately engrave the official seal of the "Organization Department of Erye Military and Political University" and the seal of political commissar Deng Xiaoping, and forged a job transfer letter from Shaanxi Provincial Government Chairman Ma Mingfang. He claimed that he was the deputy section chief of the Military Education Section of Erye Military University. He was injured and disabled due to the Huaihai Campaign and returned to Xi'an to work on the grounds of disability.
Deng Xiaoping
Compared with the previous deception, Li Wanyu obviously put a lot of effort into this transfer letter. He was worried that he would be discovered again, so he stated in the transfer letter that his file information had been lost in the Huaihai Battle, and other information would be sent to him later.
In January 1951, after Li Wanyu prepared all the materials, he got on the train and arrived in Xi'an, where he approached the Central Shaanxi Provincial Committee and asked for work assignments. Li Wanyu's deception work was very realistic. The leaders of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee did not see anything wrong, so they asked the secretary to write a letter on behalf of the organization to introduce Li Wanming to the Provincial Government's Special Care Bureau for placement.
The staff of the Special Care Bureau were very vigilant and said they would wait for all Li Wanming's materials to come out before assigning work. Li Wanming didn't have any materials, but this was not a problem for Li Wanming. He used the remaining blank stationery stamped with the official seal of "Ninoye Military and Political University Organization Department" to forge a series of materials such as the appraisal form, put it in an ordinary envelope, and then affixed a used stamp with a postmark on it, and handed the fake to the staff of the Special Education Bureau.
Now the staff of the Special Care Bureau believed it and issued him a "Revolutionary Soldier Disabled Certificate" and arranged for him to work in the Health and Welfare Administration.
After arriving at the Ankang Agency, Li Wanming handed the certification documents to the civil affairs section staff of the agency and other agencies. However, his identity was not discovered. The agency attached an opinion on the transfer of party member organization relationships to his forged "Party Member Certification Letter".
After layers of checks and omissions, Li Wanming got closer and closer to a party member under the eyes of everyone, and he officially became a member of the Communist Party. This provided him with favorable conditions for better fraud later.
After repeated attempts, Li Wanming worried that his identity would be exposed sooner or later after joining the Public Security Bureau, so he proposed to study at the Northwest Military Academy. In Xi'an, Li Wanming accidentally found out the designation of a certain division of the People's Liberation Army. He decided to do something big, so he borrowed his previous forged materials under the guise of the person in charge of the Northwest Agricultural College. He took a look at the official seal of the "Organization Department of Erye Military and Political University" and prepared to be promoted again.
According to the previous routine, Li Wanming used his identity as an organizational member of the party branch of the specialized training class to deceive a non-party comrade into printing investigation materials under the pretense that the party consolidation would begin immediately. He asked him to write and engrave the wax plate, and then used the printer of Northwest Agricultural College to print several blank pieces of paper such as "Organization Department" and "Year, Month, Day", and then used the number borrowed from the labor union to type on the paper. A military transfer order was completed.
After all this, Li Wanming’s behavior was not discovered by anyone, which is really amazing! In terms of military transfer orders, Li Wanming became the chief of staff of the division number he had learned about earlier. The division headquarters ordered him to return to the army immediately and report to the Central and South Bureau.
The year, month and day of the military transfer order are written very clearly, and there is also the name and seal of the Organization Department. Everything looks perfect. The person in charge of Northwest Agricultural College did not doubt this strange transfer order at all, and asked Li Wanming to leave the school and "return to the team." Before leaving, Li Wanming also took a commemorative photo with the person in charge.
In 1952, on the way to report to the Central and South Bureau, Li Wanming found a writing stall and asked his boss to fill in the "Cadre Resume Form", "Resume and Appraisal Letter" and "Organization Department of Erye Military and Political University" and other materials on his behalf. In addition to these, Li Wanming also forged titles such as "Joined the Red Army in 1936 and served as company commander, battalion commander, and chief of staff of the 359th Brigade".
With these "experiences" Li Wanming set out for Wuhan.
In March 1952, Li Wanming reported to the Central and South Bureau. After reading Li Wanming's letter of introduction and other materials, the chief of the Organization Department of the Central and South Bureau had no suspicion at all and arranged for him to work in the Agriculture and Forestry Department of the Central and South Military and Political Commission.
Just one month after starting work, Li Wanming was assigned to join the "Chinese Farmers Visiting the Soviet Union" to visit the Soviet Union. During the Soviet period, Li Wanming still felt dissatisfied. He very much wanted to move his class to a higher level, so he forged a letter from Li Xueshan, a delegation from the returning volunteer army.
This letter was of great importance, and Li Wanming was immediately promoted to deputy director of the Personnel Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and as secretary of the party branch of the agency. Based on Li Wanming's "deeds", the Central-South Military and Political Commission also issued him with "Resisting U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea" and "North China Liberation" commemorative medals. For this reason, Li Wanming felt even more proud.
Li Wanming's official dream is getting bigger and bigger. He can't stay in one place for long, and he will look for a new official position soon. But what is certain is that Li Wanming is going further and further on the road of crime, and sooner or later he will wake up from this dream.
Nie Rongzhen
The time came to December 1952. The Central and South Military and Political Commission was changed to the Administrative Committee. Li Wanming wanted to be promoted again, so he asked Colleagues spread the word: "Acting Chief of Staff Nie Rongzhen called me to inform me that Commander Chen Geng has arrived in Beijing. If he summons me, I hope I can arrive in Beijing immediately." When everyone was convinced about the matter, Li Wanming sent the matter on letter paper to the leaders of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The leaders of
quickly agreed to his "order" to go to Beijing and asked Li Wanming to bring Chen Geng a letter of greetings. Everything went very smoothly. After Li Wanming came to Beijing, he forged a reply letter from Commander Chen Geng to Comrade Xu Ziwei. The letter stated in Chen Geng's tone that Li Wanming was an old comrade. Based on his educational level and work ability, he was ready to be appointed chief of staff of the 12th Army and commander of the 35th Division. It also said that Li Wanming could not take up the post immediately due to illness and would return to the army in three months.
Because of this forged letter, Li Wanming received a free "recuperation", and his congenital stuttering was whitewashed as "caused by the poisonous gas of US imperialism on the Korean battlefield."
Li Wanming’s self-directed and acted “deeds” were known to many people in the nursing home. Just in time for the Spring Festival, many leaders expressed condolences to him. Li Wanming seized this opportunity and fabricated various heroic deeds, saying that he had participated in many battles, and he was very knowledgeable. "Central South Workers' Daily" reported his "deeds" in detail, and various agencies and units in Wuhan invited Li Wanming to give reports.
How can you walk by the river without getting your shoes wet? Li Wanming doesn't seem to understand this truth. He wants to be a high-ranking official, but he touches the bottom line of the law along the way, wantonly squandering the people's respect for the heroes who protect their homes and the country, and humiliates the real fighting heroes. After all, his behavior cannot be put on the table, and his resume cannot withstand scrutiny. One day he will pay the due price for his behavior.
The immutable routine was seen through
In 1954, Li Wanming was tired of staying in one place again. His official addiction became more and more serious, and he couldn't wait to start a new position.
At the end of December, Li Wanming continued his old trick, using an ordinary telegraph newspaper from the Telecommunications Bureau and letter paper defrauded from the Air Defense Command, to forge a "military emergency telegram" and a "handwritten letter" sent to him by Zhou Shidi, commander of the Air Defense Force.
Zhou Shidi
The urgent telegram stated that Commander Chen Geng appointed him as the chief of staff of the 12th Army and the commander of the 35th Division, and asked him to fly to Lanzhou immediately to discuss important matters. This routine is a typical scam of Li Wanming. The leader of the Forestry and Agriculture Bureau was convinced of the letter and even booked a flight for him.
Before going to Lanzhou, Li Wanming arrived in Xi'an first. Because he had worked and studied before, newspapers praised his "merits". Many people in Xi'an wanted to see this "combat hero." News of Li Wanming's return to Xi'an spread, and even the provincial party committee knew about it.
After arriving in Xi'an, Li Wanming immediately contacted Liang Dezhu, the former office director of the Northwest Military Academy. Liang Dezhu believed Li Wanming's rhetoric and arranged a place for him to live. During the
period, Liang Dezhu asked Li Wanming about the "military meeting" that was urgently called. Li Wanming never thought that Yuan could make up the lie himself, so he hesitated for a long time without making it clear. Liang Dezhu was suddenly confused, but on the surface he was very calm.
Zhang Desheng
Afterwards, Liang Dezhu, who was worried, found Zhang Desheng, Secretary of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee. Liang Dezhu told Zhang Desheng that Li Wanming was going to the northwest to attend a high-ranking military meeting. Hearing this, Zhang Desheng said that he also wanted to visit.
But when Zhang Desheng met Li Wanming, he found that Li Wanming was inconsistent in his words and hemmed and hawed, unlike a seasoned cadre. He was confused and asked Li Wanming tentatively: "When will this meeting be held? Why don't I know? Where will it be held and how long will it be held? What is the number and code of the 35th Division?"
A series of questions left Li Wanming at a loss and he didn't know how to answer. Zhang Desheng understood immediately and pretended to be calm when he said, "It's inconvenient for Mr. Li to live here as a senior cadre. Why not go to the Provincial Party Committee Guest House?" Li Wanming couldn't refuse, so he followed him to the guest house. Little did he know that his fraud career would end here.
In the guest house, the receptionist asked Li Wanming for relevant supporting documents. Li Wanming was not prepared and could not produce them. He continued to ask Li Wanming vaguely. Seeing this, Zhang Desheng became even more convinced of his suspicions. Just in case, Zhang Desheng sent a telegram to Beijing asking for Li Wanming's identity. The Military Commission replied that there was no such person, and there was no order to serve.
After seeing the evidence that exposed the lies, Li Wanming relaxed and admitted that he had impersonated a teacher and forged certificates. In Li Wanming's confession, he also explained all the crimes he had committed over the years.
On January 11, 1955, Li Wanming was finally arrested.
After being arrested, Li Wanming showed no intention of resisting and admitted his crime very honestly. told the truth how he carved the seal, how he forged the certificate, and how he gained the trust of others step by step. These deceptions made the police officers who recorded the crime widen their eyes. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, crimes of such a heinous nature have never occurred in China.
At that time, Li Wanming's incident was very sensational, and even the central government knew about it. There are various suspicions about Li Wanming's identity in the society. Some people say that he is a spy from another country, specializing in snooping for state secrets; some people say that there is a counter-revolutionary group behind him, etc.
However, the People's Court's investigation of Li Wanming found that Li Wanming's deception was just motivated by profit, not as rumored, nor was he defrauding public funds or seeking profit. The People's Court sought truth from facts and sentenced Li Wanming to 15 years in prison and deprived him of political power for five years.
In 1985, Li Wanming was finally released from prison. The crimes he committed that year have been forgotten by most people, but he was successfully reformed during his years in prison and realized his mistakes. After Li Wanming was released from prison, the government took care of him and arranged a job for him. After getting rid of the previous stains, Li Wanming's life was very peaceful. He found a new partner and got married.
In 1991, Li Wanming suddenly suffered from unbearable abdominal pain and was hospitalized. Li Wanming never imagined that in the first half of his life he lied to others, and in the second half of his life he would accept a white lie from a doctor.
After medical examination, it was discovered that Li Wanming might be suffering from liver, pancreatic disease or gastrointestinal perforation. Out of consideration for the patient himself, the doctor only told his family. Li Wanming did not know that he was terminally ill until he died.
Li Wanming has a very smart mind, and it would be good if he followed the right path. However, his family education since childhood created his opportunistic and opportunistic character, which created his sad life.
