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Corruption and its Shadow: An Anthropological View of Corruption in China*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Jean-Louis Rocca
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Extract

There has been little systematic research on corruption in China. Analyses so far often only reveal various cases of corruption and conclude by commenting on the retrograde aspect of the Chinese state. Work of this nature also tends to be too static – not considering the historical and cultural dimensions of politics – and too superficial – just concentrating on anecdotal aspects of corruption. As a result, one could quite simply conclude that what is required is a Weberian bureaucracy, which would be both rational and efficient, though without explaining how this should come about.

However, in the light of works dealing with the shifting role of the state in societies which are undergoing change, the causes and nature of the phenomenon of “corruption” in China can be reassessed.

Type
Research Note
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 130 , June 1992 , pp. 402 - 416
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1992

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References

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63. In 1989 the national revenue was 1,300 billion yuan.

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65. Unnamed interviewee, 1989.

66. Research workers and the Beijing municipal authorities confirmed in May 1991 that the massive investments in housing in Beijing came from more or less illegal funds belonging to work units.

67. See Rocca, , L'Empire et son milieu.Google Scholar

68. RMRB, 22 02 1989, p. 2Google Scholar. On tax evasion, see RMRB, 2 03 1989, p. 2.Google Scholar

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74. In Wuhan these are: a maximum of 80 sq.m. for an official of bureau level (ju), 60 sq.m. for one of district level, and 40 sq.m. for those below (SWB, 0825 (25 July 1990), B2/4).

75. FZRB, 8 08 1990, p. 1.Google Scholar

76. FZRB, 10 12 1990, p. 1.Google Scholar

77. In Jiangsu, more than 1,700 of these companies were closed or merged during the first half of 1990 (SWB, 0869 (14 09 1990), B2/5).Google Scholar

78. JB, No. 12 (1989), pp. 56–57.Google Scholar

79. JB, No. 8 (1989), pp. 46–48.Google Scholar

80. JSND, No. 1 (1991), pp. 80–81.Google Scholar

81. This data, which is difficult to check, is quoted in JB, No. 12 (1989), pp. 56–57 and No. 8 (1989), pp. 46–48Google Scholar, and JSND, No. 1 (1991), pp. 80–81.Google Scholar

82. Gold, , “Guerilla interviewing among the getihu.”Google Scholar