Fifteen officials in southwestern China have been disciplined for participating in faking ethnic status for high school graduates to secure extra marks in the national college entrance exam.

Three police officers - Wu Yuanhe, Chen Pu and Xie Yong - in charge of residential registration, including ethnic-status paperwork, have been sacked.

Others, mainly involved in overseas residential registrations or ethic minority affairs, received warnings from Chongqing's disciplinary department.

Authorities also decided to cancel 31 high school graduates' college admittance because they faked ethic status to take advantage of a preferential policy that awards minority students an additional 20 points.

Their names were kept secret by the local college enrollment office, but state media said most of their parents were officials with strong influence.

At least three county-level officials were among the parents punished.

Tang Ping, executive deputy of Chongqing's Shizhu County, received a warning for faking his child's ethnic status.

The parents of He Chuanyang, Chongqing's top scorer in the humanities division this year, were both officials in Chongqing.

He Chuanyang's father, He Yeda, was director of the college enrollment office in Wushan County, while his mother was a civil servant in the county.

Entry refused

He Chuanyang, 17, was believed to be among the 31 even though he scored a staggering 659 points, excluding the ethnicity reward.

He Daye has been removed from his post. He Chuanyang's mother, Lu Linqiong, was suspended from her post of deputy director of the Communist Party of China Wushan County Committee's organization department.

Investigators found He Daye had changed his son's ethnic status from the majority Han to the Tujia minority in 2006.

Wan Minqiang, chairman of the county science commission, was also sacked for helping in the scam.

Wan approved He's application to change his son's status in July 2006 when he was head of the county's ethnic and religious affairs bureau.

Peking University and Hong Kong University refused He Chuanyang's admission request, though his score made him eligible for a place in any of the top mainland and Hong Kong universities.

(Shanghai Daily July 8, 2009)