Corrupt 'flies' must be swatted

In recent feedback to Tianjin municipality, the central inspection group pointed out the problem of "corruption by flies", or lower-level officials, which provoked comments from Chinese media outlets. Being often used together with "tigers", which refers to senior officials involved in corruption, "flies" might not make as much illegal gains but are equally destructive for being many in number and their graft rampant. The ongoing anti-corruption campaign vows to "both hunt tigers and swat flies".

Flies are not necessarily better hidden than tigers. Actually, ordinary people have more chance of encountering them in daily life, and their corruption is often in the name of human relationships or social customs. It is this ambiguousness and poor law enforcement that has sheltered many flies.

China Youth Daily, July 13