China & Corruption - Communism in Action

China warned to expect greater public unrest as job prospects worsen - Times Online: "Unrest in China could reach new heights this year as the economic slowdown dims job prospects for tens of millions of migrant workers and university graduates.

Simmering discontent could burst into the open and spread widely, an influential government magazine says in an article that appeared to be issued as a warning to Communist Party officials to handle grievances with care."

Corruption taints every facet of life in China - Los Angeles Times: "writer Liao Zusheng and his wife, Chen Guoying, concluded that they knew who had killed their son: his teachers. And they believed they knew why: because of their bitter, public complaints about unauthorized fees and systemic corruption in schools and across Chinese society.

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."