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Have You Been Corrupt Today?

Yang Hengjun explores the “culture of corruption” that has grown up in China.

By Yang Hengjun

May 02, 2014

I must have written at least 50 essays on anti-corruption. Looking back, I realize that all of them are critiques of the system, officials, and the use of public power. Obviously there’s nothing wrong with this, because the source of corruption must be power. However, if all corruption cases are attributed to the system, the use of power and officials, does that mean that we can relax and ignore our own responsibilities? Can we forgive or even find excuses for our role in corruption?

As a whole, the problem of corruption is caused by ‘them,’ not by ‘us.’ But does that mean that we are completely innocent? Today, I’d like to talk not about ‘their’ problems but about our problems — our own corruption problems. First of all, I’d like to know: have you done something corrupt today? On average, how often do you cooperate in the corrupt acts of those with a little power? Don’t answer too quickly.

When I came to Beijing, I finally had a chance to have dinner with a famous public intellectual. He had just arrived when he got a phone call. The call was from his child’s teacher, and the teacher said he was free for dinner that night. My friend told me that he had waited a long time for this chance. Many parents were lined up to invite the teacher for dinner and forge some connections. This intellectual, whose anti-corruption essays are sharper than mine, apologized and asked where he could buy presents for the teacher on the way. Then he rushed out excitedly, without a backwards glance.

I remember our son only gave a gift to his teacher once. It was when he graduated from elementary school, in order to express our thanks (my son had been admitted to a prestigious middle school). We helped my son buy a beautiful card along with a gift card worth 10 Australian dollars (about 60 RMB or $9.25 US). When my son saw the gift, he hesitated and finally decided to remove the gift card. We can’t bribe the teacher, he said.

I know a fairly well-connected local cadre, a deputy director. He confessed that people from his hometown were endlessly coming to ask him to handle their affairs. Many of those matters could be handled without relying on connections, but it seems that his fellow villagers have gotten used to it. If they don’t use their connections, they’ll feel anxious. This puts the cadre in an awkward position. If he refuses anyone, then he’s not giving that person “face.” Then that whole family, and even the entire village, will speak badly of the cadre, saying that he bites the hand that feeds him. In addition, these villagers will often force the cadre to accept gifts, like a bag of rice or a basket of turnips or Chinese cabbages. Even if he tries to refuse, they will just leave the gifts in his office. This cadre is depressed because he’s too low-ranking to be transferred to another place, away from his hometown. Now, he has only two options: to have a falling out with his entire hometown or to wait for the discipline inspection committee to come and find him someday…

I often get letters from readers, and this type of letter is not uncommon: “Mr. Yang, I have been reading your blog for years, and am deeply influenced by your ideas. Thank you very much… I see that you are pretty close to the officials in XXX (some place). My XXX (child or relative) is facing such-and-such a situation, can you help me? I respect you very much and I have no other way. You have good connections, so you must be able to help me. I’ve already prepared the money you will need to give them as gifts…” Brother, if I use the officials I know to help you handle a small affair, will you still respect me?

In the eyes of many relatives and friends, I’m absolutely not worthy of respect because I have been trying to live up to my words and never use back channels or connections to get ahead. However, if you try to gain respect by taking a stand in a place where “back doors,” “connections” and even actions worthy of the term “bribery” are so prevalent, won’t you become a loner, placing yourself above others? I admit, the only reason I can do it is that my family doesn’t live in China. Hence, I never preach from on high to netizens or my relatives and friends, because I know their life is full of inescapable “corruption.”

If you go to the hospital for an operation, if you don’t bring a “red envelope” you won’t be at ease. In a minor car accident, after Chinese people get out of their cars, they don’t exchange insurance information but rather are busy trying to get their connections within the traffic police to come and help. Everyone has insurance, but even if you don’t, how much does it cost to repair a car? Is it really necessary to pull both your connections and the Chinese judicial system into the mud?

If they are sued, people won’t think about finding a lawyer, but they will think about how to find connections within the court and other political and legal organs. Fortunately, Chinese people have tons of uncles and aunts. Except for a few hundred million peasants, almost every person can find some way to work their connections to decide their fate — and the fate of the Chinese legal system. The winner knows that it wasn’t a victory for justice, while the loser only admits that his personal connections weren’t strong enough. If society continues in this way, will there be any bottom line to defend, either legally or morally?

The shameless profit-seeking of the “flies” can only succeed with the cooperation of ordinary people. As for the ill-gotten wealth of the “tigers,” aside from the huge sums gotten from bribers and accomplices, there are contributions from tens of thousands of flatters and favor-seekers.

If I hadn’t lived overseas for so many years, I could never know that this “corruption” has already spread to every corner of Chinese society. It has become the state of the nation, our culture and custom. We can even say that every single person has been mutated by ubiquitous corruption. Of course, I know that if the overall environment remains unchanged, each individual has to go with the flow. It’s very difficult to be the only virtuous person. But what’s really tragic is that most of us don’t think the above-mentioned behaviors, which have long been labeled “corrupt” by civilized societies with the rule of law, are all that serious. Or people believe that the fault for corruption lies entirely with others, and not with themselves.

The current administration has devoted a lot effort to fighting corruption. I believe that we can move from curing the symptoms to treating the disease. Eventually swatting “flies” and beating “tigers” will develop into an anti-corruption system. It’s been said recently that future anti-corruption campaigns will not only arrest those who accept bribes, but will also detain the bribers. Really, if no one offers bribes, how could anyone accept bribes? However, long-term corruption has nurtured a deep culture of corruption, a sense of “custom” and “habit.” Corruption can’t be eliminated through an “anti-corruption storm” and an overnight reform of the system. Getting rid of corruption will rely on raising the quality of the citizens and awakening public awareness.

When we blindly complain about, criticize, and curse the corruption of the system and of officials, why don’t we search our own conscience and examine our own responsibilities and duties? Yes, we are the powerless; of course we don’t have the power to be corrupt. But even the powerless have a sort of power. We have the power not to bow and scape to those who hold the official seals. We have the power to say no to those judges who accept bribes and issue unjust rulings. We have the power to fight to the end against corrupt officials, to report and expose them. If we start with ourselves, and resist the “corruption” that comes from within or beside us, then the corrupt “flies” will have no place to hide, and the corrupt “tigers” will become true paper tigers.

Have you been corrupt today? Tomorrow, will you silently accept, permit, or cooperate in others’ corruption? When will you be ready to fight corruption?

This piece srcly appeared in Chinese on Yang Hengjun’s blog. The src post can be found here.

Yang Hengjun is a Chinese independent scholar, novelist, and blogger. He once worked in the Chinese Foreign Ministry and as a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC. Yang received his Ph.D. from the University of Technology, Sydney in Australia. His Chinese language blog is featured on major Chinese current affairs and international relations portals and his pieces receive millions of hits each day. Yang’s blog can be accessed at www.yanghengjun.com

原文：

今天你腐败了吗？

文 | 杨恒均

我写的反腐文章估计不会少于五十篇吧？回头一看，篇篇都是针对体制、批评官员和针砭公权力的，这显然没有错，腐败的源头一定在公权力那里，但如果把所有的腐败罪责都归咎于制度、权力与当官的，我们是不是就能很轻松很理所当然地忽视了自己的责任，原谅甚至给我们自己在腐败中扮演的角色找到了借口？

腐败总体来说不是我们的问题，是他们的问题，但我们自己完全没有问题吗？今天我想谈的不是他们的问题，而是我们的问题——我们自己的腐败问题。我先弱弱地问一句：今天你腐败了吗？你平均多少天就配合那些掌了小权者腐败一次呢？——先别急着回答。

到北京好不容易碰到一位有名的公共知识分子一起吃饭，他刚进门就接到一个电话，原来是孩子的老师打来的，老师说今晚正好有空吃饭了。公知朋友说这可是约了好久才得到的机会，家长约孩子的老师吃饭搞关系可得排很久的队。这位反腐文章写得比我犀利的公知说了声抱歉，打听到路上什么地方可以顺便买礼物送老师，然后兴冲冲头也不回地冲出门去……

记得我儿子唯一一次给老师“送礼”是小学毕业时为了感谢老师（儿子考上了重点中学哦），我们帮他买了一个附有十澳元购物卡（相当于六十元人民币）的精美卡片作礼物，儿子看到后却犹豫了，最后还是决定把十元购物卡从卡片上剥下来，他说，不能行贿老师哦。

一位私交不错的基层副处级干部对我真情表白，家乡的人不停来找他办事，而很多事情根本不用找“关系”也能办成，但家乡人好象习惯了，不找“关系”心里不踏实。这让他很为难，只要拒绝任何一个人就是不给面子，整个家族甚至乡下都会流传他的“坏话”，说他“忘恩负义”。找他办事的人又常常会硬给他送礼，一袋米一筐萝卜白菜什么的，你不收，他们放下就走了。他说级别太低又无法交换到外地去当官，很郁闷，如今他要就是同整个家乡的人翻脸，要就是等到某一天纪委找到他……

我经常收到读者的来信，这种信并不少见：“杨老师，过去多年我一直读您的博文，深受您思想的影响，非常感谢您……我看到你同XXX （或某地）官员比较熟，我的XXX（子女或亲属） 正在如何如何，您可以帮我……您是我最尊重的人了，我没有别的办法，只有您关系比较广，一定可以帮到我，要送礼的钱我们给您准备好……”兄弟，如果我利用自己认识的官员帮你把这么一件很小的事办成了，你还尊重我吗？

在很多亲戚朋友眼中，我肯定不是值得尊重的，因为我努力做到言行如一，绝不开后门、找关系，但在“后门”、“关系”甚至够得上“行贿”罪名的事如此盛行的地方，你想要得到这样的尊重，恐怕得活成孤家寡人、不食人间烟火吧？我坦承，我能做到这点的唯一原因是我的家人并不生活在中国。所以，我从来不会高调地对网友和亲戚朋友说教，我知道他们的生活充斥着如此多的无法摆脱的“腐败”——

到医院开刀作手术，你不送红包心里就不踏实；路上出了小车祸，中国人下车后不是交换保险号而是各自忙着拨打寻找自己在交警中的“关系”来帮忙——别说大家都有保险，就是没有保险，修车能花多少钱？有必要把你的熟人和中国的司法一起拉进污水里？

吃官司了，人们想到的不是找律师，而是在法院等政法机关中找关系——好在中国人都有七大姑八大姨的，除了真正可怜的几个亿农民外，城里人几乎都能转弯抹角地找到各自的“关系”，然后就靠“关系”来决定自己，也决定中国法律的命运——赢的人知道不是正义获胜，输的人只承认自己的关系不够铁……这样的社会搞下去，还有什么法律和道德的底线可以守？

“苍蝇”的蝇营狗苟一定有普通人的配合才能成功，“大老虎”的万贯赃款，除了巨额的行贿者与同谋外，一定有成千上万卑躬屈膝、笑脸奉迎的民众们一半的功劳。

如果不是在海外生活了这么多年，我是绝对想不到“腐败”原来已经深入到中国社会的每一个角落，成了国情、文化与风俗，甚至可以说，我们每一个人都被无处不在的腐败转了基因。我当然知道，如果整体环境不变，任何个人都得随波逐流，很难独善其身，但可悲的是，我们中的大多数人，根本不认为我上面说的这些在文明和法治社会里早就被认定为“腐败”的行为有多么严重，或者他们认定腐败的错全部在人家而不在自己这一边。

这届政府强力反腐，我相信从治标到治本，拍苍蝇打老虎，迟早也会发展到制度反腐，最近就有消息说今后反腐不但要抓那些受贿者，同样要拘那些行贿人，其实，没有行贿人，哪里有受贿者？但长期腐败滋生的深入骨髓“腐败文化”与“风俗习惯”，恐怕不单单是靠“反腐风暴”与一夜之间的制度就能杜绝的，那还得靠国民素质的提高与公民意识的觉醒。

在我们一味抱怨、批评和痛骂体制与官员的贪污腐败时，我们为什么不扪心自问一下自己的责任与义务？不错，我们是无权力者，自然没有权力去腐败，但无权者也有自己的权力，我们有权不去对那些手握公章的人点头哈腰、低声下气，有权对受贿而做出不公判决的法官说不，有权对那些贪污腐败的官员死磕到底，举报他、揭露他……当我们每一个人都从自己身边做起，都能抵制发生在我们身边和我们自己身上的那些“腐败”时，腐败的苍蝇们将会无处藏身，腐败的大老虎也就成了真正的纸老虎。

今天，你腐败了吗？明天你会默许、纵容、配合他们继续腐败吗？你，什么时候准备反腐呢？

杨恒均 2014.4.27

杨恒均 2015-08-23 08:54:02