One by one, the officials spoke candidly on camera about how they abused their power and accumulated enormous wealth. They looked relaxed, confident and even happy as they described bribes, kickbacks and other perks of corruption.
Getting seafood boxes stuffed with $300,000. Owning a fancy house for nearly every season. Running red lights without getting tickets.
It felt like watching Mafia dons recounting their most glorious criminal acts in a reality show. Except these were former officials of the Chinese Communist Party playing themselves in an anti-corruption documentary series.