Corruption:An overview of China

: In China, 'everyone is guilty of
corruption'
By Lijia Zhang , Special for CNN
October 24, 2013 -- Updated 0301 GMT (1101
HKT)
Police stand guard outside the court where
disgraced politician Bo Xilai was sentenced to
life in prison in September.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Everyone in China is guilty of corruption, says
writer Lijia Zhang
Use of guanxi or connections part of everyday
life
Businessmen say they can't survive unless
they are corrupt
China needs to focus on rule of law not "rule
of men"
Editor's note: Lijia Zhang is a Beijing-based
writer and the author of "Socialism is Great! A
Worker's Memoir of the New China." She appears
in the latest episode of On China with Kristie Lu
Stout, which examines the country's fight against
corruption. For viewing times please click here .
Beijing (CNN) -- Another "tiger" has been
caught. Last week, Ji Jianye, the mayor of my
hometown Nanjing, a major city in eastern China,
was arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes
worth about 20 million yuan ($3.3 million)
After taking power in March, President Xi Jinping
launched a high-profile anti-corruption
campaign, vowing to catch both tigers and flies --
big and small corrupt officials. China has seen
plenty of such campaigns, arising and subsiding
like summer storms.
But this one appears to be the most vigorous
since China opened up; when corruption became
rampant in the new market economy and officials
started to trade power for financial gains.
Author and social commentator Lijia Zhang
Much as I appreciate our president's
determination, his battle feels like an attempt to
"put out a big fire with a glass of water," given
how corruption has reached every corner of our
society.
READ: Swatting flies: Beijing's fight to root out
corruption
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.
Author: Corruption hurt Communist Party
On China: Reform
On China: Tigers and flies
I became aware the weight of guanxi shortly
after I was thrust into adulthood: At 16 I was
dragged out of the school to work at a military
rocket factory.
Two months later, when Spring Festival came, my
mother requested that I visit my boss' home
with gifts she had prepared. Naive and
embarrassed, I refused. Mother angrily
predicted: "You'll never go far in life if you don't
know how to la guanxi!" The verb la means to
pull or to develop. Sure enough, I never got any
promotion during my decade-long stint at the
factory even though I acquired a degree in
mechanical engineering.
READ: What China can learn from Hong Kong
For any Chinese businessman, guanxi is
essential. Recently, I met up with a long-lost
friend, with whom I marched in the Nanjing
streets back in the spring of 1989 and shouted
"Down With Corruption" -- one of the complaints
that had sparked the unprecedented Tiananmen
Square democratic movement.
More than 20 years later, this friend spends 90%
of his time running his high-tech company. His
youthful idealism has gone and his waistline has
expanded considerably. With a ghost of a smile,
he blames it on the excessive dining, drinking
and occasional visits to prostitutes that are part
of the tiresome game of guanxi. "Your business
can't survive a day if you are not corrupt," he
told me.
He has to smooth every step of his business with
gifts or outright bribes: From obtaining the
business license, to entertaining potential
clients, to receiving 15% of the tax deduction
that a high-tech company is entitled to. He
estimates that 3% to 5 % of operating costs goes
to guanxi .
Such practices drive entrepreneurs to seek
senior officials as their patrons because
politicians in China have the power to approve
projects and allocate resources.
The relationship between the now disgraced
politician Bo Xilai and businessmen Xu Ming, the
founder of Dalian Shide Group, was typical of
such patron-client relationships. Xu, a large
man, allegedly fattened his pockets through his
guanxi with the Bo family as he funded the
family's jet-set life style.
Xu was detained shortly after Bo's arrest and
testified against Bo at his trial in August,
although Xu has not been charged with any
wrongdoing.
Local media reports suggest that authorities are
investigating similar ties between the newly
disgraced Nanjing mayor and Zhu Xingliang, the
richest businessman in Suzhou, a city near
Nanjing, who has also been placed under house
arrest.
And politically, China produces its top leaders
more or less based on patron-client ties rather
than meritocracy. Both President Xi and Bo are
"princelings" -- the children of senior leaders,
the most powerful and influential group in
China. Nepotism, a form of corruption, has
feudal roots.
In fact, I believe the whole corrupt practice of
guanxi is rooted in China's long tradition of
renzhi -- rule of men rather than the rule of law.
President Xi has called for a curb on official
extravagance: No red carpet treatment, no luxury
banquets and no fancy office buildings. But
these are the symptoms not the root of the
problem.
To stamp out corruption, he will have to not only
observe the rule of law but also introduce
genuine political reforms that would allow checks
and balances, transparency, and independent
scrutiny. Such remedies, although proven
elsewhere, may be too strong for him to take.
I don't doubt that the authorities will net more
tigers. But there will be hundreds and
thousands more at large and countless flies,
thriving in China's politically and culturally rich
breeding ground for corruption