We were given a bit more clarity on what the government wants people to hear about the downfall earlier this week of Hangzhou Party Secretary Zhou Jiangyong 周江勇. An article in China Economic Weekly described sketchy dealings by his wife and younger brother, said the complaints against her were as numerous as “snowflakes” about some of those dealings, and that the brother had two companies in which a subsidiary of Ant Financial was a small investor. It also said that both the brother and his older sister have been detained.

The two investments from Ant subsidiaries listed are tiny, both less than 2 million RMB. It is strange for such a big company to waste any time on such tiny deals, so they look more like government relations maintenance deals. I wonder how many other companies also got this kind of cash, and if so how many may come out in the "self-examination" process that 25,000 Hangzhou cadres are going through for themselves and family members’ business dealings.

Yesterday’s ne…