After conducting a survey, People’s Forum, a sub-site of People’s Daily Online, commented on how the public authority in China has undergone a transformation in the wrong direction. The article stated that, from looking at the publicly exposed official corruption cases, it is clear that the public authority has gotten into the wrong hands:
The authority belonging to the public went into the hands of a department (a smaller group). The authority under the control of the department went into the hands of an individual (mainly the number one leader). The authority under the control of the individual went into the hands of his family.
According to the People’s Forum, 68.8 percent of the people surveyed thought that the public authority has been severely abused. Over 60 percent thought that, in China, there is widespread nepotism at the grass roots level. Over half of those surveyed thought that the county official’s power abuse was the most severe abuse. Over half thought that allowing an official’s family to control power was more damaging than other type of power transformation.
Source: People’s Daily Online, April 21, 2014
http://theory.people.com.cn/n/2014/0421/c40531-24922464.html