A recent report released by the People's Bank of China revealed that since 1990, over 18,000 government officials and Party members fled the country, siphoning off an estimated 800 billion yuan (about $123 million).

To tackle this systemic issue, the National Audit Office recently announced its intention to increase the frequency of audits on senior government officials in the next five years. Simultaneously, it released a report last Monday revealing the illicit activities of 82 government units, 80 percent of which were low-level departments. According to the report, they were guilty of having appropriated 414 million yuan ($64 million) of public funds for unauthorized use.

Corruption, encroaching on the concept of guanxi, or relationships, has become a fact of life in China. It has grown to be such a problem that when people look at a successful businessman or provincial government official, the first instinct is not to feel admiration, or ponder on the obstacle course that led to such an attainment, but instead to reflect wryly on whose hands were greased.

Corruption is not something unique to the more provincial parts of China. It reaches far and wide, over a varied demographic. A report from a major Chinese media dating back to 2007 revealed 40 percent of all those accused of graft and corruption in Guangzhou were well-educated officials under the age of 45.

Let us be honest for a moment: corruption is present everywhere, and relations play a role in all countries to varying degrees. But the absence of effective supervision, the loopholes in management and the lethargic speed with which reforms are implemented have facilitated the spread of this debilitating disease throughout the Chinese governmental body.

And yet, for something that is now as rife as rice, one would think the current penalty for serious corruption offenses – death – would be enough to discourage a social affliction that has, so far, not had any major repercussions for the nation's economy.

On the contrary, the ill reaches far beyond government officials.