蟻貪(yitan): Ants eating style of corruption

From 2004 to 2008, two education bureau officials in Tiantai county of East China's Zhejiang province allegedly demanded kickbacks from a local printing company for each exam paper it printed. Within five years they received kickbacks of as much as 250,000 yuan from about 25 million exam papers. The practice of repeatedly taking bribes or embezzling numerous times while only taking small amounts of money each time is described by netizens as ants eating style of corruption.

The offenders are mainly grassroots officials. Compared with those "tigers" (corrupt high-ranking officials), these offenders are not so easy to be detected, because although they commit their corruption many times and it lasts for a long time, they only take a very small amount of money each time, which is not very noticeable.

Some grassroots officials have the false conception that taking a small amount of money is not corruption or they get lost in the so-called normal social interaction. Some of them have held the view that their actions are invisible because the amount they take each time is so small.

These corrupt officials not only endanger economic development and social stability, they also seriously undermine the government image and estrange the government from the people. There is a need to crack down on these corrupt officials.