Zheng Peijie, from Zhengzhou City in Henan Province, regrets a decision he made two years ago. To this day, he is still paying the price for it. "I don't know when it will end," said Zheng Peijie, mentioning "DNF Niu Niu Cheats" (a reference to an online game cheat).
In November 2007, he saw an online advertisement by the Training Center of the Henan Transportation Logistics Association recruiting highway staff members using cheats related to the game DNF. The advertisement stated, "Due to work needs and with the approval of the higher authorities, we are recruiting 80 highway duty personnel across the province."
What attracted Zheng Peijie was a sentence in the recruitment notice: "After three months of intensive training, candidates will be assigned to their posts."
The Henan Transportation Logistics Association is a social organization registered with the Henan Provincial Civil Affairs Department, with Xie Changqin as its legal representative and the Henan Provincial Development and Reform Commission as its supervisory department.
Impressed by "such a big reputation," Zheng Peijie enrolled his then 19-year-old brother Zheng Shuaihua, paying 12,000 yuan. Unexpectedly, "this delayed him, and for two years, nothing happened," said Zheng Peijie. The money could not be refunded, and they had to look for work again.
"The job training" turned out to have training but no job placement. In the recruitment notice issued by the Training Center of the Henan Transportation Logistics Association, it was noted that the center is a direct subordinate secondary institution of the association, "mainly responsible for skills training of on-duty employees in the transportation industry across the province and pre-job training of newly hired employees."
Zheng Peijie called the consultation hotline of the training center, and the response was that after the internship period, participants would take a unified exam, and those who passed would be formally employed and sign formal labor contracts.
For Zheng Shuaihua, who was looking for a job at the time, this was undoubtedly good news. In November 2007, Zheng Shuaihua came to Zhengzhou and paid 12,000 yuan.
"After about a month of training," recalled Zheng Peijie, "my younger brother went to an expressway toll station for an internship."
After Zheng Shuaihua "successfully" took up his post, Zheng Peijie subsequently introduced three or four more people to the Henan Transportation Logistics Vocational Training School, all of whom paid the required 12,000 yuan.
However, "after less than two months of training, they were asked to go home and wait for job placements. Up to now, neither jobs nor refunds have been provided," said Zheng Peijie.
By December 1, 2009, when Zheng Shuaihua's formal employment relationship was officially terminated, "he was still an intern, earning a monthly salary of 650 yuan."
Zheng Peijie believed that the commitments made in the recruitment notice by the training center were not fulfilled.
Confusion Surrounding the Training School
Zheng Peijie felt immense pressure, "I introduced others there, but it ended up being fruitless." Subsequently, Zheng Peijie frequently traveled between the Henan Provincial Development and Reform Commission, the Henan Provincial Human Resources and Social Security Department, and the Henan Provincial Civil Affairs Department, hoping to reclaim the tuition fees initially paid by the students.
China Youth Daily reporter noticed that on these students' tuition receipts, the financial seals were not consistent; some were stamped with "Henan Transportation Logistics Association Training Center", others with "Henan Transportation Logistics Vocational Training School", and still others with "Henan Transportation Logistics Vocational School."
Upon investigation, only "Henan Transportation Logistics Vocational Training School" was established by the Henan Transportation Logistics Association and approved by the Henan Provincial Human Resources and Social Security Department as a private vocational training school.
Luan Lei from the Vocational Skills Development Division of the Henan Provincial Human Resources and Social Security Department stated that this school was applied for by Xie Changqin, the then secretary-general of the Transportation Logistics Association.
Xie Changqin is a retired cadre from the Henan Provincial Development and Reform Commission and also the legal representative of the Transportation Logistics Association.
After the training school incident occurred, Shi Qiang became the new secretary-general of the Henan Transportation Logistics Association on April 29, 2009.
However, Shi Qiang knew little about this training school, having only heard rumors. "The association does not have this school, we even do not know when it was established, let alone who the principal is, how much the registered capital is, and what scale it has."
Shi Qiang specifically inquired about the situation from the Vocational Skills Development Division of the provincial Human Resources and Social Security Department, but "we were not allowed to copy the relevant approval registration materials."
According to Shi Qiang's recollection, Xie Changqin once proposed starting a training school during an association president's office meeting, but "the president rejected the proposal at the time, one of the reasons being that the association itself can provide training, why bother setting up another school?"
On the registration certificate of the Transportation Logistics Association, its business scope includes survey research, consulting services, professional training, and information exchange.
Shi Qiang told China Youth Daily reporter that the association did not receive a single penny from Xie Changqin's establishment of this school.
On December 3, when the reporter called Luan Lei from the Vocational Skills Development Division, asking to see the school's approval information, it was refused with the reason being "this cannot be viewed casually."
The training school was accused of "illegal recruitment"
In Zheng Peijie's petition materials, 27 names were listed, all of whom had not received their tuition refunds. He estimated that "there should be more than 200 deceived students."
When China Youth Daily reporter dialed Xie Changqin's residential phone number, he was informed that due to health reasons, Xie was unable to answer the call. Xie's wife claimed she understood the situation and denied Zheng Peijie's claims.
She stated that the school recruited a total of 57 students, and in 2008 and 2009, the school cumulatively refunded tuition fees to 15 students. The other students had already completed three months of training, so there was no need to refund the tuition, and the recruitment notice did not promise job placement.
However, Zhang, deputy director of the Henan Provincial Development and Reform Commission's Elder Cadres Office, who had been involved in coordinating the matter, indicated that the training promised by Xie Changqin's wife was not carried out as agreed, and the statement about job placement after training was "clearly written down."
Shi Qiang was unsure if the 57 students were all the students, but he indicated that from the start of recruiting students, the training center had changed the training of "on-duty personnel" into "recruitment" training.
The "Several Opinions on Strengthening the Management of Private Vocational Training Schools" issued by the Henan Provincial Labor and Social Security Bureau in 2005 stipulated that private vocational training schools must truthfully and accurately release recruitment brochures and advertisements, clearly stating the school's name, address, majors offered, training level, training form, training duration, fee standards, and brochure advertisement filing number.
In the announcement for the "Henan Transportation Logistics Association Training Center Recruiting Highway Staff," the fee standard and filing number could not be found.
Luan Lei stated that the Henan Transportation Logistics Vocational Training School had been ordered to stop recruiting students, "for over a year," due to "illegal recruitment."
In July 2009, the Henan Provincial Human Resources and Social Security Department announced the results of the annual inspection of provincial-level private vocational training schools (established before December 31, 2007) on the Henan Labor Security website. Among them, the Henan Transportation Logistics Vocational Training School fell under the category of "schools not within the annual inspection range."
Henan Provincial Development and Reform Commission: Full Refund of Fees Collected, Otherwise Serious Action Will Be Taken
Now, Zheng Peijie just wants to know when he can get the refund. According to the "Opinions," students who withdraw from private vocational training schools should have their fees refunded according to their actual study time. If students withdraw due to false advertising or other violations of national regulations, the fees collected should be refunded.
The Legal Affairs Division, the Elder Cadres Division, the Discipline Inspection Group, the Office of the Henan Provincial Development and Reform Commission, including the Transportation Logistics Association, held multiple meetings to coordinate and hoped to resolve the matter as soon as possible. "Each time a timetable was set, but neither side compromised, causing the matter to drag on unresolved," said Shi Qiang.
On September 15, Shi Qiang presided over another coordination meeting, suggesting that the tuition fees of 15 students be refunded first, each receiving 10,000 yuan.
But this coordination meeting also ended in failure.
Xie Changqin insisted on "reasonable refunds," arguing that considerable expenses were incurred in establishing the school, so full refunds were not possible. However, the parents of the students believed they had been deceived, with unresolved employment issues delaying their children's futures, demanding full refunds.
Both sides have remained at loggerheads until now.
Some student parents believe that the Henan Provincial Development and Reform Commission has failed to act effectively and has not seriously dealt with Xie Changqin. In response, Huang Yajun, head of the Legal Affairs Division, stated that Xie Changqin had retired over ten years ago, "now we have no effective way to deal with him, we can only criticize and educate him during the coordination meetings."
Huang Yajun suggested considering legal avenues to resolve the issue. If it's a civil dispute, they can go to court; if the students' parents feel deceived, they can report to the police.
On October 20, 2009, Yang Xuebin, head of the Discipline Inspection Group of the Henan Provincial Development and Reform Commission, made a comment regarding this matter, "Please urge Xie Changqin through the Legal Affairs Division to fully refund all collected fees by the end of the year and handle the matter properly, otherwise, serious action will be taken."