Family backgrounds don't make officials corrupt

The intensification of China's anti-corruption campaign and the investigations against an increasing number of "tigers", or high-ranking corrupt officials, have given rise to a debate on whether people who have risen from a humble family background are suited to occupy high positions.

Skeptics have furnished "evidence" to back their argument. They say a number of corrupt high-ranking officials - from Zhou Yongkang, a former member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, and Xu Caihou, former vice-chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission, to Liu Zhijun, former minister of railways, Guo Boxiong, another former vice-chairman of the CMC, and some other corrupt officials - were born in poor families.

Similar to doubting the ability of "phoenix men", men who were born in poor families but achieved great success in their careers through hard work, some people believe officials from a humble family background, especially those occupying high positions who control a lot of resources, are usually more vulnerable to material temptations.