AN OFFICIAL IN HEZE, East China's Shandong province, was recently given a disciplinary warning because he received two free apples from a local fruit seller. That's only one of the several corruption cases recently disclosed by the local disciplinary watchdog. Taking such "minor issues" seriously is good because it shows the top leadership's determination to root out corruption, says an editorial in Southern Metropolis Daily:

While people have hailed the investigations into senior corrupt officials, some have been critical of the anti-corruption efforts aimed at catching lower-level corrupt officials. One popular sentiment expressed online is many officials use government cars for their personal use and dine luxuriously with taxpayers' money; those caught by the disciplinary watchdogs are just unlucky.

Such comments show how corrupt many people believe the political ecology to be. Corruption had long been rampant until the anti-graft campaign was launched, as a result, not only have many officials taken such behavior as normal, many ordinary residents have developed a higher tolerance for corruption. That mentality in turn leads to more officials becoming accustomed to corruption because they know everybody tolerates their corruption. Worse, some media outlets have even openly claimed "proper corruption should be tolerated in China", which shames the whole profession.