According to a survey, the general public believes corruption is common in the following five areas: the construction industry; the police, procuratorate and court system; hospitals; schools and organizational and personnel institutions. The research office under the Central Disciplinary Inspection Commission gave out a questionnaire about Party conduct in the following ten provincial-level regions: Beijing, Heilongjiang, Hebei, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Hubei, Guangxi, Guangdong, Sichuan and Xinjiang. This questionnaire was given to a random sample of interviewees. About 12,000 questionnaires were passed out and 99.85% of those collected were valid.

The results of this questionnaire show that corruption is still a topic the public has keen interest in. As many as 32.2% of interviewees say they pay greater attention to events involving corruption than to other events. Events involving corruption stand third in a ranked list of items drawing public attention. As many as 51.42% of interviewees focus also on unemployment, 34.67% on social security, 31.46% on reform of the medical care system and 28.77% on the education of young people and children.

The results of this survey show that unhealthy trends and corruption in these five areas are of great interest to the public. As many as 38.54% of interviewees believe unhealthy trends and corruption are ?more rampant? in the construction industry than in other fields, 38.53% believe unhealthy trends and corruption are ?more rampant? in the police, procuratorate and court system; 29.24% said at hospitals; 26.13% named schools and 21.20% chose departments in charge of organizational and personnel issues. The general public is discontent with corruption they themselves witness: unauthorized schools fees and ?red envelopes? for doctors

According to a random survey by the Xinhua News Agency, there is a considerable percentage of interviewees who are very discontent with corruption around them, including such things as schools charging fees without authorization and doctors asking for ?red envelopes?.

More than half of those surveyed said they are satisfied with the results of efforts by the government to sort out unhealthy trends in a variety of administrative departments and industries.

This survey shows 53.58% believe disciplinary inspection authorities and other departments have made considerable achievements in cracking down on unauthorized charges. About 43.70% of interviewees said fewer doctors ask for and accept ?red envelopes? in 2003 than in previous years.

Despite these achievements, there is still a considerable percentage of interviewees who are very concerned about unhealthy trends and corruption in the fields of education and healthcare service. This shows the government still faces the challenging and long-term task of straightening out unhealthy trends and corruption in these fields. This survey shows 21.56% of those surveyed believe unauthorized charges in the education field in 2003 were as rampant as before while 15.03% believed these charges were more rampant than before. A total of 20.05% believe the ?red envelope? situation with doctors in 2003 was more or less the same as before while 13.38% believed there were more cases in 2003.

Sun Chengbin Beijing Youth Daily