A mid-level clerk at a single-window service desk abused minor powers delegated for handling matters, engaging in corruption for 8 years. For those who pay, the matter is processed the same day; for those who do not pay, various excuses are used to stall, obstruct, and deliberately create difficulties, extracting a bribe amounting to 16.14 million yuan. On average this amounts to over 2 million yuan per year, and if roughly calculated by working days, about 8,070 yuan could be extorted per day.
This news is from last month. Netizens in the comments below are furious, saying this is absolutely not a matter of personal character but a systemic issue with the entire Zhongxiu (the organization) itself. It is not even a matter of high-ranking officials; just a small-window service clerk can extort such a large sum, illustrating how common this kind of thing is across China. How many workers’ hard-earned wages are being exploited and extorted, or taken away for nothing, even being insulted or delayed in processing if the money is not enough. No wonder the saying goes, “The yamen opens with a decisive character; reason without money cannot enter.” Even the authorities involved afterward still used the old trick of deceiving the public, explaining that this window clerk was not a “regular staff member.” Zhongxiu society has no bourgeois legal mouthpieces of “justice”; there is only straightforward class oppression.
