The Dynamics of Anti-Corruption Campaigns in China: An Empirical Study of the Official Rank-Punishment Nexus in the Context of Political and Legal Changes

ABSTRACT

Along with the escalating corruption problem in China comes the Chinese government’s continuous effort to combat corruption. The increased intensity, duration and scope of anti-corruption campaign over time culminated with Xi’s effort to fight both ‘tigers’ and ‘flies’ during his administration. Despite growing research interests, few empirical studies took a dynamic approach to compare the effect of Xi’s campaign with that of his predecessors. Based on 2,034 cases, this study investigates judicial sentencing and its correlation with official ranking within a continuum of anti-corruption initiatives that spanned over several decades, incorporating the effect of both political changes (administration transition from Hu to Xi) and legal changes to the Criminal Law. The findings cast doubt on the claimed severity of Xi’s campaign relative to that of Hu’s but lend support to more visible and harsher punishment against the tigers than the flies. Our study sheds invaluable light to the ongoing debate about the relationship between official ranking and judicial punishment in the discussion of potentially effective strategies against corruption.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Ting Gong, ‘Forms and characteristics of China’s corruption in the 1990s: Change with continuity’. Communist and Post-Communist Studies 30(3), (1997), pp. 277–288; Xiaobo Lü, Cadres and corruption: The organizational involution of the Chinese Communist Party (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2000); Xiaogang Deng, Lening Zhang, and Andrea Leverentz, ‘Official corruption during China’s economic transition: Historical patterns, characteristics, and government reactions’. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 26(1), (2010), pp. 72–88; Yan Sun, Corruption and market in contemporary China (Cornell University Press, 2004); Andrew H. Wedeman, Double paradox: Rapid growth and rising corruption in China (Cornell University Press, 2012).

² See, for example, Kerry Brown, ‘The anti-corruption struggle in Xi Jinping’s China: An alternative political narrative’, Asian Affairs 49(1), (2018), pp. 1–10; Ling Li, ‘Politics of anticorruption in China: Paradigm change of the party’s disciplinary regime 2012–2017’, Journal of Contemporary China 28(115), (2019), pp. 47–63.

³ See, for example, Melanie Manion, ‘Taking China’s anticorruption campaign seriously’, Economic and Political Studies 4(1), (2016), pp. 3–18; Ting Gong and Tu Wenyan, ‘Fighting Corruption in China’, China Review 22(2), (2022), pp. 1–19.

⁴ Andrew Wedeman, ‘Xi Jinping’s tiger hunt: anti-corruption campaign or factional purge’, Modern China Studies 24(2), (2017), pp. 35–94.

⁵ Andrew Wedeman, ‘The intensification of corruption in China’, The China Quarterly 180, (2004), pp. 895–921.

⁶ See also Yong Guo, ‘Corruption in transitional China: An empirical analysis’, The China Quarterly, 194, (2008), pp. 349–364.

⁷ Andrew Wedeman, ‘The dynamics and trajectory of corruption in contemporary China’, China Review 22(2), (2022), pp. 21–48.

⁸ For example, see review by Galvin, Miranda A. ‘Substance or semantics? The consequences of definitional ambiguity for white-collar research’, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 57(3), (2020), pp. 369–399.

⁹ See, for example, William Chambliss and Seidman Robert, Law, Order, and Power (MA: Addison-Wesley, 1971); Steven Spitzer, ‘Toward a Marxian theory of deviance’, Social Problems 22(5) (1975), pp. 638–651; Darnell F. Hawkins, ’Beyond anomalies: Rethinking the conflict perspective on race and criminal punishment’, Social Forces 65(3) (1987), pp. 719–745.

¹⁰ Jianhong Liu, Dengke Zhou, Allen E. Liska, Steven F. Messner, Marvin D. Krohn, Lening Zhang, and Zhou Lu, ‘Status, power, and sentencing in China’, Justice Quarterly 15(2) (1998), pp. 289–300; Hong Lu and Elaine Gunnison, ‘Power, corruption, and the legal process in China’, International Criminal Justice Review 13(1) (2003), pp. 28–49.

¹¹ Jianhong Liu, Dengke Zhou, Allen E. Liska, Steven F. Messner, Marvin D. Krohn, Lening Zhang, and Zhou Lu, ‘Status, power, and sentencing in China’, Justice Quarterly 15(2) (1998), pp. 289–300; Hong Lu and Elaine Gunnison, ‘Power, corruption, and the legal process in China’, International Criminal Justice Review 13(1) (2003), pp. 28–49; Ting Gong, ‘More than mere words, less than hard law: A rhetorical analysis of China’s anti-corruption policy’, Public Administration Quarterly (2003), pp. 159–187.

¹² Xiaobo Lü, Cadres and corruption: The organizational involution of the Chinese Communist Part, (Stanford University Press, 2000); Yan Sun, Corruption and Market in Contemporary China (Cornell University Press, 2004); Yong Guo, ‘Corruption in transitional China: An empirical analysis’, The China Quarterly 194, (2008), pp. 349–364; Xiaogang Deng, Lening Zhang, and Andrea Leverentz, ‘Official corruption during China’s economic transition: Historical patterns, characteristics, and government reactions’, Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 26(1), (2010), pp. 72–88; Andrew Wedeman, Double Paradox: Rapid Growth and Rising Corruption in China (Cornell University Press, 2012); Kilkon Ko and Cuifen Weng, ‘Structural changes in Chinese corruption’, The China Quarterly 211, (2012), pp. 718–740.

¹³ For example, the impact of Guanxi, see Ling Li, ‘Performing bribery in China: Guanxi-practice, corruption with a human face’, Journal of Contemporary China 20(68), (2011), pp. 1–20; Jing Vivian Zhan, ‘Filling the gap of formal institutions: the effects of Guanxi network on corruption in reform-era China’, Crime, Law and Social Change 58, (2012), pp. 93–109.

¹⁴ Shuntian Yao, ‘Privilege and corruption: The problems of China’s socialist market economy’, American Journal of Economics and Sociology 61(1) (2002), pp. 279–299; Yan Sun, Corruption and Market in Contemporary China (Cornell University Press, 2004); Ting Gong, ‘Corruption and local governance: the double identity of Chinese local governments in market reform’, The Pacific Review 19(1) (2006), pp. 85–102; Tak-Wing Ngo, ‘Rent-seeking and economic governance in the structural nexus of corruption in China’, Crime, Law and Social Change 49(1) (2008), pp. 27–44.

¹⁵ Andrew Wedeman, ‘Anticorruption campaigns and the intensification of corruption in China’, Journal of Contemporary China, 14(42), (2005), pp. 93–116. Andrew Wedeman, ‘Win, lose, or draw? China’s quarter century war on corruption’, Crime, Law & Social Change, 49, (2008), pp. 7–26. Ma, Stephen K., ‘The dual nature of anti-corruption agencies in China’, Crime, Law and Social Change, 49, (2008), pp. 153–165; Andrew Wedeman, ‘Guilt and punishment in China’s war on corruption’, In Jean C. Oi, Scott Rozelle, and Xueguang Zhou (Eds.), Growing pains: Tension and opportunity in contemporary China’s transition (pp. 117–142), (Washington, DC: Brookings Institute, 2010); Fenfei Li and Jinting Deng, ‘The power and the misuse of power by China’s local procuratorates in anticorruption’, International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice 45, (2016), pp. 1–25; Guo, Xuezhi, ‘Controlling corruption in the party: China’s central discipline inspection commission’, Critical Readings on the Communist Party of China 4, (2017), p. 1179–1214.

¹⁶ Lin Zhu, ‘Punishing corrupt officials in China’, The China Quarterly 223, (2015), pp. 595–617; Ting Gong, Shiru Wang, and Hui Li, ‘Sentencing disparities in corruption cases in China’, Journal of Contemporary China (28)116 (2019), pp. 245–259; Yongshun Cai, State and Agents in China: Disciplining Government Officials (Stanford University Press, 2014); Xin Jiang, Shan Cui, Bin Liang, Honglei shuai, Jianhong Liu, ‘Tigers vs. flies: Impact of official ranks on judicial trials in PRC’s anti-corruption campaign’, Crime, Law and Social Change 80(1), (2023), pp. 51–78.

¹⁷ See, for example, William Chambliss and Seidman Robert, Law, Order, and Power (MA: Addison-Wesley, 1971); Steven Spitzer, ‘Toward a Marxian theory of deviance’, Social Problems 22(5) (1975), pp. 638–651; Richard Quinney, Class, state, and crime: On the theory and practice of criminal justice (Vol. 6), (New York: D. McKay Company, 1977); Darnell F. Hawkins, ’Beyond anomalies: Rethinking the conflict perspective on race and criminal punishment’, Social Forces 65(3) (1987), pp. 719–745.

¹⁸ For example, see review by Galvin, Miranda A. ‘Substance or semantics? The consequences of definitional ambiguity for white-collar research’, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 57(3), (2020), pp. 369–399.

¹⁹ Sally S. Simpson, ‘White-collar crime: A review of recent developments and promising directions for future research’, Annual Review of Sociology 39 (2013), pp. 309–331.

²⁰ See, for example, John Hagan, Ilene H. Nagel, and Celesta Albonetti, ‘The differential sentencing of white-collar offenders in ten federal district courts’, American Sociological Review (1980), pp. 802–820; Michael L. Benson and Esteban Walker, ‘Sentencing the white-collar offender’, American Sociological Review (1988), pp. 294–302; Stewart J. D’Alessio and Lisa Stolzenberg, ‘A multilevel analysis of the relationship between labor surplus and pretrial incarceration’, Social Problems 49(2) (2002), pp. 178–193; Hilde Wermink, Brian D. Johnson, Jan W. de Keijser, Anja JE Dirkzwager, Joni Reef, and Paul Nieuwbeerta, ‘The influence of detailed offender characteristics on consecutive criminal processing decisions in the Netherlands’, Crime & Delinquency 63(10) (2017), pp. 1279–1313.

²¹ See, for example, David Weisburd, Elin Waring, and Stanton Wheeler, ‘Class, status, and the punishment of white-collar criminals’, Law & Social Inquiry 15(2) (1990), pp. 223–243; Paul Skolnick and Jerry I. Shaw, ‘Is defendant status a liability or a shield? Crime severity and professional relatedness’, Journal of Applied Social Psychology 24(20) (1994), pp. 1827–1836; Robert Tillman, Kitty Calavita, and Henry Pontell, ‘Criminalizing white-collar misconduct: determinants of prosecution in savings and loan fraud cases’, Crime, Law and Social Change 26(1) (1996), pp. 53–76.

²² Hagan, John, Ilene H. Nagel, and Celesta Albonetti, ‘The differential sentencing of white-collar offenders in ten federal district courts’, American Sociological Review (1980), pp. 802–820. Nagel, Ilene H., and John L. Hagan, ‘The sentencing of white-collar criminals in federal courts: A socio-legal exploration of disparity’, Michigan Law Review 80(7), (1982), pp. 1427–1465.

²³ Hong Lu and Elaine Gunnison, ‘Power, corruption, and the legal process in China’, International Criminal Justice Review 13(1) (2003), pp. 28–49; Jianhong Liu, Dengke Zhou, Allen E. Liska, Steven F. Messner, Marvin D. Krohn, Lening Zhang, and Zhou Lu, ‘Status, power, and sentencing in China’, Justice Quarterly 15(2) (1998), 289–300.

²⁴ Hong Lu and Elaine Gunnison, ‘Power, corruption, and the legal process in China’, International Criminal Justice Review 13(1) (2003), pp. 28–49; Ting Gong, Shiru Wang, and Hui Li, ‘Sentencing disparities in corruption cases in China’, Journal of Contemporary China (28)116, (2019), pp. 245–259.

²⁵ Stanton Wheeler, David Weisburd, and Nancy Bode, ‘Sentencing the white-collar offender: Rhetoric and reality’, American Sociological Review (1982), pp. 641–659; Paul Skolnick and Jerry I. Shaw, ‘Is defendant status a liability or a shield? Crime severity and professional relatedness’, Journal of Applied Social Psychology 24(20), (1994), pp. 1827–1836.

²⁶ Lin Zhu, ‘Punishing corrupt officials in China’, The China Quarterly 223, (2015), pp. 595–617.

²⁷ Ting Gong, Shiru Wang, and Hui Li, ‘Sentencing disparities in corruption cases in China’, Journal of Contemporary China (28)116, (2019), pp. 245–259.

²⁸ Xin Jiang, Shan Cui, Bin Liang, Honglei shuai, Jianhong Liu, ‘Tigers vs. flies: Impact of official ranks on judicial trials in PRC’s anti-corruption campaign’, Crime, Law and Social Change 80(1), (2023), pp. 51–78.

²⁹ Jiaheng Lin, ‘An empirical analysis of factors that influence bribery sentencing: Based on 4,205 judgments in 2014’, Criminal Law Review 39(02), (2016), pp. 260–288 [in Chinese]. Yong Guo and Songheng Li, ‘An empirical study of criminal sentencing in corruption cases’, Comparative Economic & Social Systems, 195(1), (2018), pp. 77–89 [in Chinese].

³⁰ Stanton Wheeler, David Weisburd, and Nancy Bode, ‘Sentencing the white-collar offender: Rhetoric and reality’, American Sociological Review (1982), pp. 641–659.

³¹ Michael L. Benson and Esteban Walker, ‘Sentencing the white-collar offender’, American Sociological Review (1988), pp. 294–302.

³² John Hagan and Patricia Parker, ‘White-collar crime and punishment: The class structure and legal sanctioning of securities violations’, American Sociological Review (1985), pp. 302–316.

³³ Pitman B. Potter, ‘The Chinese legal system: Continuing commitment to the primacy of state power’, The China Quarterly 159, (1999), pp. 673–683.

³⁴ For example, Hualing Fu, ‘Wielding the sword: President Xi’s new anti-corruption campaign’, In S. Rose-Ackerman and P. Lagunes (Eds.), Greed, corruption, and the modern state (Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc. 2015), pp. 134–157.

³⁵ Information reported on the official website of the People’s Courts. Last modified December 17, 2019. http://www.chinacourt.org/article/detail/2014/03/id/1225556.shtml.

³⁶ Cited in Zongfeng Sun, Lin Zhu, and Xing Ni, ‘How does anti-corruption information affect public perceptions of corruption in China?’, China Review 22(2), (2022), pp. 113–143.

³⁷ Information recorded in the Work Report of the CCDI delivered at the CCP’s 19^th Congress held in 2017. The full report is available at, last modified December 17, 2019. https://news.qq.com/a/20171029/022008.html.

³⁸ Information from last modified April 11, 2022. https://news.sina.com.cn/c/2022-03-29/doc-imcwiwss8830103.shtml.

³⁹ Samson Yuen, ‘Disciplining the party: Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign and its limits’, China Perspectives 3, (2014), pp. 41–47.

⁴⁰ Andrew Wedeman, ‘The dynamics and trajectory of corruption in contemporary China’, China Review 22(2), (2022), pp. 21–48.

⁴¹ Last modified April 11, 2022. https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1686006321322743830&wfr=spider&for=pc.

⁴² Ting Gong and Tu Wenyan, ‘Fighting Corruption in China’, China Review 22(2), (2022), pp. 1–19.

⁴³ Er Cai, ‘Breaking new! Assets of 29 big tigers including Zhou Yongkang and Ling Jihua confiscated. Beijing Youth Daily’, March 12, (2019) [in Chinese].

⁴⁴ Samson Yuen, ‘Disciplining the party: Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign and its limits’, China Perspectives 3, (2014), pp. 41–47.

⁴⁵ Ting Gong and Tu Wenyan, ‘Fighting Corruption in China’, China Review 22(2), (2022), pp. 1–19.

⁴⁶ Changdong Wei, ‘Comment on legislation of bribery of the 9th Amendment of the Criminal Law’, East China University of Political Science and Law Journal 2, (2016), pp. 27–35 [in Chinese].

⁴⁷ Xu Zhang, ‘Also on revisions of bribery crimes of the 9th Amendment of the Criminal Law’, Contemporary Law Review 1, (2016), pp. 3–11 [in Chinese].

⁴⁸ Zhixiang Wang and Ting Liu, ‘Giving bribes under the purview of criminal justice policies: Reflection on the 9th Amendment of the Criminal Law’, Cognition and Practice 4(4), (2015), pp. 44–52 [in Chinese].

⁴⁹ Liangfang Ye, ‘A game analysis and empirical testing of the sentencing model of bribery: Also comment on Articles 44 and 45 of the 9th Amendment of the Criminal Law’. Law Review 195(1), (2016), pp. 108–116 [in Chinese].

⁵⁰ Bingzhi Zhao, ‘The fundamental directions and steps of criminalization in contemporary China: Using the 9th Amendment of the Criminal Law as the main perspective’, Oriental Law 1, (2018), pp. 38–43 [in Chinese].

⁵¹ Bin Liang and Hong Lu (Eds.), The death penalty in China: Policy, practice and reform (Columbia University Press, 2016).

⁵² Zhaosong Zhang, ‘A study of sentencing standardization of high-ranked corruption officials: An analysis of criminal sentences of corrupt officials ranked at the provincial and ministerial levels between 2013 and 2017’, Research on Rule of Law 2, (2019), pp. 88–103 [in Chinese].

⁵³ Xu Zhang, ‘Also on revisions of bribery crimes of the 9th Amendment of the Criminal Law’, Contemporary Law Review 1, (2016), pp. 3–11 [in Chinese].

⁵⁴ YeLiu Qian, ‘An evaluation and projection of legislation of bribery: A perspective from the 9th Amendment of the Criminal Law’, Journal of Soochow University (Philosophy & Social Science Ed), 6, (2015), pp. 96–102 [in Chinese]; Zhaosong Zhang, ‘A study of sentencing standardization of high-ranked corruption officials: An analysis of criminal sentences of corrupt officials ranked at the provincial and ministerial levels between 2013 and 2017’, Research on Rule of Law 2, (2019), pp. 88–103 [in Chinese].

⁵⁵ Bingzhi Zhao, ‘The fundamental directions and steps of criminalization in contemporary China: Using the 9th Amendment of the Criminal Law as the main perspective’, Oriental Law 1, (2016), pp. 38–43 [in Chinese].

⁵⁶ Zhaosong Zhang ‘A study of sentencing standardization of high-ranked corruption officials: An analysis of criminal sentences of corrupt officials ranked at the provincial and ministerial levels between 2013 and 2017’, Research on Rule of Law 2, (2019), pp. 88–103 [in Chinese].

⁵⁷ See, for example, Chaoran Sun, ‘On “circumstances” of embezzlement and bribe-taking: An empirical analysis of sentencing factors among senior official corruption cases’, Political Science and Law 10, (2015), pp. 45–60 [in Chinese]; Zengke He, ‘Corruption and anti-corruption in reform China’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies 33(2) (2000), pp. 243–270.

⁵⁸ Qin Li and Xiaoguang Wang, ‘An empirical analysis of the sentence leniency for crimes of abuse of power: An examination of 210 judicial judgments from 34 courts in 24 districts’, Criminal Science 4, (2014), pp. 120–126 [in Chinese].

⁵⁹ Jianbo Wang, ‘An empirical analysis of regional sentencing disparity for bribe-taking’, China Legal Science 4, (2016), pp. 245–265 [in Chinese].

⁶⁰ For example, Dongyang Hu, ‘An empirical study of the “amount + circumstance” model for bribe-taking: A sample based on judicial judgments from 2016 to 2017 in J province’, Hubei Social Sciences (10), (2017), pp. 131–137 [in Chinese]; Zhaosonng Zhang and Shuixing Yu, ‘Solving the problems of sentencing justice of embezzlement and bribery crimes: Based on the empirical analysis of 100 judgements on embezzlement and bribery cases’, Journal of Zhejiang University of Technology (Social Science), 17(3), (2018), pp. 320–332 [in Chinese].

⁶¹ See, for example, Shawn D. Bushway and Anne Morrison Piehl, ‘Judging judicial discretion: Legal factors and racial discrimination in sentencing’, Law and Society Review (2001), pp. 733–764.

⁶² See, for example, Cassia Spohn and David Holleran, ‘The imprisonment penalty paid by young, unemployed black and Hispanic male offenders’, Criminology 38(1), (2000), pp. 281–306; Jeffery Ulmer, Noah Painter-Davis, and Leigh Tinik, ‘Disproportional imprisonment of Black and Hispanic males: Sentencing discretion, processing outcomes, and policy structures’, Justice Quarterly 33(4), (2016), pp. 642–681.

⁶³ Lin Zhu, ‘Punishing corrupt officials in China’, The China Quarterly 223, (2015), pp. 595–617.

⁶⁴ Narisong Huhe, Jie Chen, and Yongguo Chen, ‘Flies, tigers, and the leviathan: anti-corruption campaigns and popular political support in China’, Japanese Journal of Political Science 23(3), (2022), pp. 193–208; Xuezhi Guo, ‘Controlling corruption in the party: China’s central discipline inspection commission’, Critical Readings on the Communist Party of China (4). Brill, (2017), pp. 1179–1214.

⁶⁵ Andrew Wedeman, ‘Guilt and punishment in China’s war on corruption’, in Growing pains: Tension and opportunity in contemporary China’s transition eds. Jean C. Oi, Scott Rozelle and Xueguang Zhou (Washington, DC: Brookings Institute, 2009), pp. 117–142.

⁶⁶ Fenfei Li and Jinting Deng, ‘The power and the misuse of power by China’s local procuratorates in anticorruption’, International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice 45, (2016), pp. 1–25.

⁶⁷ See, for example, Lin Zhu, ‘Punishing corrupt officials in China’, The China Quarterly 223, (2015), pp. 595–617.

⁶⁸ See, for example, Ting Gong, Shiru Wang, and Hui Li. ‘Sentencing disparities in corruption cases in China’, Journal of Contemporary China, 28(116), (2019), pp. 245–259; Yong Guo and Songfeng Li, ‘An empirical study of criminal sentencing in corruption cases’, Comparative Economic & Social Systems, 195(1), (2018), pp. 77–89 [in Chinese].

⁶⁹ Firdaus Syam and Ummi Fatia, ‘Corruption eradication policy in China during Xi Jinping era’, Journal of Social Political Sciences 3(1), (2022), pp. 72–89; Ting Gong and Tu Wenyan, ‘Fighting Corruption in China’, China Review 22(2), (2022), pp. 1–19.

⁷⁰ See, for example, Jingnan Liu, ‘Supreme leaders, provincial leaders, and factional competition in China’s anti-corruption enforcement: Regional-and city-level evidence’, Journal of Chinese Political Science 27(1), (2022), pp. 133–153; Narisong Huhe, Jie Chen, and Yongguo Chen, ‘Flies, tigers, and the leviathan: anti-corruption campaigns and popular political support in China’, Japanese Journal of Political Science 23(3), (2022), pp. 193–208.

⁷¹ Cesare Marchese di Beccaria, An essay on Crimes and Punishments (Albany: W.C. Little & Co., 1872); Benson, Michael L., and Esteban Walker, ‘Sentencing the white-collar offender’, American Sociological Review 53, (1988), pp. 294–302.

⁷² Daniel S. Nagin, ‘Deterrence in the twenty-first century’, Crime and Justice 42(1), (2013), pp. 199–263.

⁷³ Andrew Wedeman, ‘Anticorruption campaigns and the intensification of corruption in China’, Journal of Contemporary China 14(42), (2005), pp. 93–116.

⁷⁴ Andrew Wedeman, ‘Xi Jinping’s tiger hunt: anti-corruption campaign or factional purge’, Modern China Studies 24(2), (2017), pp. 35–94.

⁷⁵ We’d like to thank one anonymous reviewer for this insight.

⁷⁶ Christopher Carothers and Zhu Zhang, ‘From Corruption Control to Everything Control: The Widening Use of Inspections in Xi’s China’, Journal of Contemporary China 32(140), (2023), pp. 225–242; Ling Li, ‘Politics of anticorruption in China: Paradigm change of the party’s disciplinary regime 2012–2017’, Journal of Contemporary China 28(115), (2019), pp. 47–63.

⁷⁷ See, for example, Peng Wang, ‘Extra-legal protection in China: How guanxi distorts China’s legal system and facilitates the rise of unlawful protectors’, British Journal of Criminology 54(5), (2014), pp. 809–830.

⁷⁸ Bingzhi Zhao, ‘Legislative restrictions on the death penalty for embezzlement and bribery and its abolition in China: From the perspective of the 9th Amendment to the Criminal Law’, Modern Law Science 38(1), 2016, pp. 3–13 [in Chinese].

⁷⁹ For example, see Lin Zhu, ‘Punishing corrupt officials in China’, The China Quarterly 223, (2015), pp. 595–617.

⁸⁰ Sarah Biddulph, Elisa Nesossi, and Susan Trevaskes. ‘Criminal justice reform in the Xi Jinping era’, China Law and Society Review 2(1), (2017), pp. 63–128.

⁸¹ Xiaobo Lü, Cadres and corruption: The organizational involution of the Chinese Communist Part (Stanford University Press, 2000).

⁸² Zongfeng Sun, Lin Zhu, and Xing Ni, ‘How does anti-corruption information affect public perceptions of corruption in China?’, China Review 22(2), (2022), pp. 113–143.

⁸³ Kainan Gao and Margaret M. Pearson, The role of political networks in anti-corruption investigations’, China Review 22(2), (2022), pp. 81–111.

⁸⁴ Junyang Wang, ‘The political limits of China’s anti-corruption reform: An institutional analysis of the new supervision commission’, Journal of Contemporary China 33(145), (2024), pp. 151–172.

⁸⁵ For example, Hualing Fu, ‘Wielding the sword: President Xi’s new anti-corruption campaign’, in Greed, corruption, and the modern state eds. S. Rose-Ackerman and P. Lagunes (Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc. 2015), pp. 134–157.

⁸⁶ Samson Yuen, ‘Disciplining the party: Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign and its limits’, China Perspectives 3, (2014), pp. 41–47; Hualing Fu, ‘Wielding the sword: President Xi’s new anti-corruption campaign’, in Greed, corruption, and the modern state ed. S. Rose-Ackerman and P. Lagunes (Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc., 2014), pp. 134–157. Junyang Wang, ‘The political limits of China’s anti-corruption reform: An institutional analysis of the new supervision commission’, Journal of Contemporary China 33(145), (2024), pp. 151–172.

⁸⁷ Lin Zhu, ‘Punishing corrupt officials in China’, The China Quarterly 223, (2015), pp. 595–617; Xin Jiang, Shan Cui, Bin Liang, Honglei shuai, Jianhong Liu, ‘Tigers vs. flies: Impact of official ranks on judicial trials in PRC’s anti-corruption campaign’, Crime, Law and Social Change 80(1), (2023), pp. 51–78.