I’d like to share two reads that give a quite depressing insight on corruption in China. Since Xi Jinping took over, the government has been launching a nationwide campaign against corruption that, on the surface, seems to be effective: Media reported that luxury sales dropped and posh restaurants have lost a significant amount of their business.
My family is also somehow affected. One of my relatives, a teacher, was looking for a new job a couple of months ago which was not easy at that time. A former colleague of him helped him finding a position at a school. My relative asked me to bring a Swiss watch from Germany. As a “gift” in return for the colleagues’ favor. Who am I to judge. My mother who still lives in Germany bought the watch and I put it in my suitcase when I visited her this summer. A few weeks later I travelled to our old hometown in China where my relatives lives. I gave him the watch. My relative said: “An anti-corruption unit from Beijing has been here yesterday.” They jailed my relative’s colleague. There was no use for the Swiss watch anymore.
Despite all the attempts – it’s nearly impossible to crackdown on corruption in China. Simply because it infiltrates every corner of Chinese society.
A must-read on that topic: NewsChina gives a comprehensive explanation why corruption has never been worse in China and why the recent campaign is not changing anything.
At CNN, Beijing-based author Lijia Zhang writes:
[…] Chinese public opinion surveys identify corruption as the most hated social problem, yet everyone is also guilty of it.
Last year, when my father fell seriously ill, we took him to a decent hospital close by but were told the beds were fully occupied. As always, we turned to our guanxi — our network of connections — for help.
Fortunately, a relative, a not so senior but well-connected official, managed to secure a private room at the hospital, which is reserved for ranking leaders. In return, the relative agreed to get the son of the hospital director into the most desirable school in Nanjing. […]