The Los Angeles Times looks at the problem of endemic corruption throughout Chinese society, and what happens to those who try to speak out against it:
Corruption is an everyday experience for millions of Chinese that taints not just schools, but relations in business, on farms and in factories, and potentially any contact citizens have with officialdom. Foshan appears no more corrupt than any other city in China, experts say. It is noteworthy only as an example of a pervasive problem that threatens China’s stability and political system.
Senior Communist Party officials know that decades of remarkable economic progress are at risk if graft and bribery stretch the chasm between the haves and have-nots too wide. But they have limited room to maneuver. Any meaningful effort to crack down endangers the party’s monopoly on power.
The system depends on legions of police, local party and government officials to enforce Beijing’s policies and quash dissent. All too often, critics say, local officials regard their position as a license to steal.