Corruption Report
Title: Corruption
in Chinese Culture: A Bureaucratic Legacy
By: Dario
Ortega
The
possibility that corruption is perceived different in China than in western
liberal democracies is worth studying. Could it be that corruption is different
in other cultures? Could it be that the history of a certain society shapes
that perception? Or is it that all people across various cultures, histories
and regions perceive corruption in the same sense; studying Chinese history it
would seem the latter is not so.
China
is one of the earliest bureaucratic nation-states on earth. Since the
unification under the Qin dynasty, China was ruled by a centralized authority,
the emperor, and directly under him were his elite scholarly officials and
notables. These elites were granted legislative, administrative and judicial
powers in order to successfully administer China as the emperor ruled. It was
such a high honor to be chosen by the emperor to rule in China that people
praised and revered bureaucrats. With this prestige and recognition from
society, bureaucrats were more successful than merchants in accumulating wealth
than merchants. It was here that the line between business and governing began
to disappear. As bureaucrats became more and more powerful, and with that power
more and more prestigious; the opportunities to make economic gains were
prevalent.
With
these new economic opportunities came the use of bureaucratic office power to
ensure wealth production. As bureaucrats were subject to the emperor’s will,
their hope to remain in office depended on the satisfaction of one man. If the
emperor deemed a bureaucrat a failure, he would be stripped of his title and
office. Although this happens often in western bureaucratic systems, in China
this ‘firing’ would have meant more than just cleaning out a desk. The Chinese
bureaucrat would have been seen as the ‘one who failed the emperor’ and would
have perceived such a fail as dishonorable. Society would have seen it the same
way as well. So with this fear of losing everything, the incentive to gain as
much wealth as possible was born. Since dishonor and a ‘fall from grace’ was a
constant threat, every avenue that could be used to prepare for such an event
was taken advantage of, including using the bureaucratic position to gain
wealth.
Considering
the history of bureaucratic authority and prestige, is it unusual to think that
remnants of these memories would not continue to hold true in a society that
prides itself in its long and unique history. In contemporary China, there
still is a centralized authority and there still is a bureaucracy which is
respected. Culture and history are two things that the Chinese people continue
to hold dear, and this respect to those values which make them particular
remains a keystone of their identity. Since this culture and history connect an
honorable public life as a means to ensure financial security, it should not be
shock to other societies that the line between business and politics in China
can be crossed over from time to time by those in ‘prestigious’ positions.
Sources:
Ting, Gong. The Politics of Corruption in Contemporary China: An Analysis of Policy
Outcomes. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1994.
