Peng Daxiang, the "godfather of counterfeit money" who started with a pencil
On January 21, 2013, more than 500 police officers from Guangdong police in Jieyang, Shanwei and Shantou waited outside the doors of three counterfeit money production dens. At 5:30, under the command command, the police in the three places acted at the same time, quickly entered the den, and arrested the unsuspecting criminals. Unlike the two dens in Jieyang and Shanwei, this den in Shantou is not the place where counterfeit money is printed, but the birthplace of counterfeit money masters, although it is just an ordinary family. However, what is quite surprising is that when the police broke down the door, they found that the arrested suspect was actually a 72-year-old man, and at this time he was holding a paintbrush and drawing a new counterfeit master pattern. The police also searched a series of counterfeit money making tools such as a plate printer and ink from under his bed. After the police "verified his identity", this person is Peng Daxiang, who is known as the "godfather of counterfeit money".
Peng Daxiang, the "Godfather of Counterfeit Money," Arrested [January 21, 2013]
This article is about the legendary experience of Peng Daxiang, the "godfather of counterfeit money".
In 1941, Peng Daxiang was born in an ordinary farming family in Raoping County, Shantou, Guangdong. Peng Daxiang, whose family is not well-off, dropped out of school after only finishing elementary school. In that troubled year, in order to earn a living, he clamored to learn a craft. His father felt justified and sent him to be apprenticed to a carpenter in the same village. At that time, people recognized the carpenter who was known as the "head of the eight great craftsmen of the people" very highly, and if Peng Daxiang studied well, the future of relying on craftsmanship to eat was also a good future. Unexpectedly, he was restless by nature, and did not seem to understand the good intentions of his parents, and after a few days he got bored, and told his father bluntly that he did not like to learn carpentry, but liked to draw. However, can he support himself by painting? My father immediately extinguished this thought. But he couldn't stand his son's hard work, but the helpless father still fulfilled his son's wish and sent him to a painter in the town to learn painting.
Fengjiang Wooden Bridge - Raoping, Shantou, Guangdong
What Peng's father didn't expect was that his son had completely changed after learning to paint. He went against the normal state of "ADHD" before, and in addition to eating and sleeping every day, he painted quietly. The painter also seems to have taken a fancy to this hard-working, gifted child, and often gives him free extra lessons. After learning to paint for less than a year, he was able to draw well. What is even more interesting are his two major characteristics in painting. One is the best at gongbi painting, and the characters in the paintings are vividly drawn by him, and even the hair is drawn at a distinct root. Second, he has a very strong ability to copy, and even the teachers can't tell which one is the real one.
Perhaps it was because this painting genius was born at the wrong time, or perhaps it was Peng's father's question "Can you support yourself by painting?" became a prophecy, and in the countryside at that time, painting really could not be used as a means of making a living like carpenter's craft. Even after liberation, Peng Daxiang's skills did not come in handy. So, in order to live, Peng Daxiang had to go to the fields to farm.
Maybe God can't bury Peng Daxiang, a genius, and a chance makes him see the hope of life. During a casual conversation, one of them talked about the fake food stamps, and he even took out a fake food stamp to show him. This fake ticket, which was not delicately drawn in Peng Daxiang's eyes, could easily deceive everyone present, which really made Peng Daxiang's eyes shine. After his friend left, he took out his paintbrush and the few food stamps he had on him, and began to paint. After finishing work every day, he locked himself in the room to "draw food stamps", stayed up all night, and the first food stamps written by Peng Daxiang finally came out.
Peng Daxiang, who "tried the law" for the first time, came to the grain store with his "masterpiece", and when he handed out the food stamps, he was so nervous that he didn't dare to raise his head, for fear of being recognized. However, what he didn't expect was that the grain store staff weighed the rice for him after receiving the food stamps, without the slightest suspicion. The impulse to succeed made Peng Daxiang excited, not only feeling the joy of "I am born to be useful", but also thinking that he had found a livelihood to sustain his life in the future. With his skillful drawing of food stamps, one by one the food stamps stand out from his pen. At that time, the national grain stamps, known as the "national stamps", could be sold for a good price of one catty, and this way of making money made Peng Daxiang's pockets bulge, not only his life was guaranteed, but also gradually accumulated a considerable amount of savings. Since food stamps can make money, the business of drawing other bills has also been carried out immediately, such as cloth stamps, meat stamps, oil stamps, and industrial stamps...... At the same time, he also forged various documents through painting and sold them for money, and never missed.
The spring breeze of reform and opening up gave birth to the rise of private enterprises, Peng Daxiang decided to abandon the "counterfeiting" livelihood that he relied on for survival, he almost emptied all his savings, opened a printing factory, thinking that he could make a fortune openly and honestly by making a living, and ensure that he would not have to worry about food and clothing for the rest of his life. However, this genius of painting is not a master of business. Not long after the printing plant was in business, it closed down due to poor sales and a backlog of products. not only dreams of making a fortune, but also owes a lot of debt.
Peng Daxiang, who was destitute due to the collapse of the printing house, was first faced with paying off his debts. Faced with the cruel reality, he thought of returning to his old business and gambling again with the rest of his life. However, since July 1993, all kinds of tickets have been abolished throughout the country. It turns out that his "familiar with the road" has become "useless for heroes". So he came up with the idea of "drawing RMB", and after a night of repeated attempts, he drew the first 100 RMB. The next day, when he returned the 100 yuan to the creditor, the creditor smiled after reading it again and again.
After this success, Peng Daxiang became a living money printing machine. He used the 100-yuan bills he drew to not only pay off the arrears, but also redeem his printing press. Peng Daxiang, who is not good at running the printing business, still has two brushes for tinkering with the printing press. With the plate-making and printing techniques he learned while he was the owner of a printing house, he was stunned to print 100 yuan. However, the quality of the counterfeit money that was first printed was so poor that he had to rub the counterfeit money and take it to remote rural areas for use. This move made Peng Daxiang, who got rid of debt, live a well-off life.
Talking about Peng Daxiang's experience of becoming the "godfather of counterfeit money", I have to mention a person named Wu Hanlong. Wu Hanlong is the leader of a counterfeit money sales gang, but because he does not have the ability to make counterfeit money, he can only buy counterfeit money at a low price, so as to sell it to earn the difference. Because this method of operation does not make much money, but the risk is extremely high, Wu Hanlong decided to print counterfeit money himself. Wu Hanlong certainly knows that the key to printing counterfeit money is to have a master of good quality. However, the market price for purchasing a master is 1.1 million yuan, which is absolutely unaffordable. Wu Hanlong, who has been walking in the rivers and lakes for many years, has a way, and finally found this capable person Peng Daxiang after many inquiries. When Wu Hanlong explained his intentions, Peng Daxiang, who didn't understand the market at all, only threw out an offer of 50,000 yuan for a master, and felt that it was already a "lion's mouth". Because in those days, 50,000 yuan could buy a house locally. Peng Daxiang's asking price is simply the "cabbage price" for the sky-high price of 1.1 million yuan. So, the two hit it off, and Wu Hanlong immediately took out 100,000 yuan to order two masters from Peng Daxiang.
At that time, the renminbi already had a strong anti-counterfeiting mark, and the watermark and pattern were also very delicately printed. The mastering of counterfeit money abroad is usually carried out using a scanner. To this end, Wu Hanlong specially equipped Peng Daxiang with a set of computers to complete the master production. However, what Wu Hanlong did not expect was that Peng Daxiang, who did not know how to use a computer at all, did not make masters according to foreign methods. His "way" is to still use the original method of hand-drawing to make the master, as he himself said: "A pencil is enough!" First, he used a pencil to draw the pattern of the master stroke by stroke. Then he used a set of printing processes that he had figured out, through exposure, multiple presses, etc., so that the uneven lines on the anti-counterfeiting signs were also made by him. With his own craftsmanship, he crushed the most advanced instruments of the time. Five months later, counterfeit 100 yuan coins printed on the "Peng's master" and "Peng's process" began to be marketed.
As we all know, the anti-counterfeiting technology content of 100 yuan counterfeit money is the "ceiling" of RMB, and usually those who make counterfeit money go around the "100 yuan", that is, they will choose to make counterfeit coins below 50 yuan. However, when the counterfeit money store saw Peng Daxiang's 100 yuan bill, they were all shocked. Because whether it is the color, paper, or pattern details, there is no difference from the "real guy". So far, Peng Daxiang's counterfeit career has been mainly engaged in the production of masters, and the price of masters has also risen from 50,000 yuan to 120,000 yuan. With the prosperity of trading, Peng Daxiang also jumped from a well-off to a wealthy man.
Some people say that "when a man is rich, he becomes bad", and Peng Daxiang fell into this "cliché" without exception. He took his forged divorce certificate and divorced his original partner and married a young and beautiful woman......
In the 21st century, the proliferation of counterfeit money has become a serious social crime, and the public security department has also stepped up efforts to crack down on the manufacture and sale of counterfeit money. With the cracking of a number of counterfeit cases, the police found that nearly 97% of the counterfeit coins came from the same master. However, due to the extremely secret sales channels of the masters, although the police have uncovered the counterfeit dens and achieved remarkable results, the root cause of the counterfeit master has never been unearthed.
In 2012, Guangzhou police cracked a den that printed counterfeit banknotes and arrested the suspect Fang Jialong. After interrogation, Fang not only confessed to his crime, but also confessed to a woman named Zhu Nianghe. In order to "cast a long line to catch a big fish", the police did not immediately arrest Zhu. After several months of tracking and squatting, on December 17, 2012, the counterfeit money gang was wiped out, and Zhu Nianghe was also arrested. The biggest takeaway from this case was the seizure of the master of the counterfeit money at the counterfeit money printing site. In order to obtain leniency, Zhu Nianghe, the first offender in the case, not only took the initiative to confess his crime, but also made the police happy that Zhu Nianghe confessed the source of the counterfeit money master, so Peng Daxiang, the "godfather of counterfeit money", finally surfaced.
After investigation, Peng Daxiang has produced a total of 24 counterfeit master coins over the years, divided into two 100-yuan banknote versions in 1999 and 2005. Through the renminbi master drawn by Peng Daxiang, the counterfeiting gang printed more than 10 billion yuan of counterfeit money. According to a 2015 Ministry of Public Security statute, 96.7 percent of China's counterfeit money in recent years was printed with a master drawn by the "godfather of counterfeit money."
In April 2014, the Shantou Intermediate People's Court pronounced a verdict on the "803" counterfeit currency case. Peng Daxiang, one of the first offenders in the case, was sentenced to life imprisonment, deprivation of political rights for life, and confiscation of all personal property on charges of counterfeiting currency. The judge hearing the case gave the following presentation of the "multiple charges":
In addition to making fake renminbi masters, the defendant Peng Daxiang also forged various certificates and certificates of state organs and institutions for others, such as household registration booklets, marriage certificates, graduation certificates, birth certificates, and medical certificates, or purchased forged certificates from others and resold them for illegal profit. In addition, Peng Daxiang and his wife Ou openly lived together as husband and wife without dissolving their marriage, constituting the crime of bigamy.
The movie "Wushuang" is the largest counterfeit money movie in the history of Chinese films, and in the 2018 National Day file, it became the box office champion of the National Day with an absolute overwhelming victory, and the starring roles in the film Chow Yun-fat, Aaron Kwok, Zhang Jingchu, and Feng Wenjuan left a deep impression on people. However, you may not know that the script of the film is based on a real case, and the painter Li Wen is based on the "godfather of counterfeit money" Peng Daxiang.
The movie "Mushuang" was released in an advertisement
The counterfeit money in the film is the US dollar, which is different from the counterfeit RMB money made by Peng Daxiang. Interestingly, when the Guangdong police broke into Peng Daxiang's home, they saw that the counterfeit master he was drawing was the US dollar. This is the same as in the film. Some people say that perhaps because the risk is too great, he has decided to "wash his hands and not dry" the renminbi counterfeiting business, and turned to counterfeit US dollar banknotes. Some people also said that if he had started to only make counterfeit US dollar banknotes and not "touch" the renminbi, maybe he would still be "safe and sound"?
Stills from the movie "Wushuang".
In 2024, at the age of 83, Peng Daxiang is still serving his sentence in a prison in Shantou......
*The picture is from the Internet, if there is an infringement dispute, it will be deleted