What do you want to be when you grow up? "I want to be a corrupt official" said a six-year-old girl in China when asked this question on her first day in school.
This caused quite a stir when spread by a YouTube video in which she explained that corrupt officials "have a lot of things". Some praised her "realistic" outlook on life, while others were concerned about rampant corruption in China.
Punishments that include the death penalty have not curbed China's corruption problem, which is described by President Hu Jintao as one of the greatest threats to the legitimacy of Communist Party rule. A study by the Carnegie Endowment estimates that about 10% of Chinese government spending, contracts, and transactions is used as kickbacks and bribes, or simply stolen - this is about $86 billion a year.
There are thousands of anti-corruption protests in China that threaten social stability. Other costs include efficiency losses, waste, environmental damage and poor services. Health and safety also suffers when regulators are bribed to look the other way.
Enforcement of China's 1200 laws, rules, and directives against corruption is highly selective and mostly ineffective. China has no independent police or judicial system, so party leaders order investigations, often to settle internal power struggles.
Chinese censors recently cut off internet reference to the involvement of President Hu's son in a corruption scandal in Namibia by a company he used to head. Analysts say that officials seek power precisely so that they can become rich. According to Professor Minxin Pei: "Corruption is the glue that keeps the party stuck together. Getting rid of it is not possible as long as they keep this system."