Cao Jianliao, vice-mayor of Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, talks to an elderly woman who comes for petitioning on August 31, 2011. It was the first time for the city to hold a reception where city officials directly heard people's appeals. Photo: CFP

Wang Yucheng kept checking the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) every day for a month. Finally, the news he was waiting for came.

An inspection team from China's top disciplinary watchdog has been sent to the Shanghai-based Fudan University in April, to check the use of funds and personnel management in scientific research departments.

Wang, a doctor at the Eye and ENT Hospital of Fudan University, had previously accused his former teacher Wang Zhengmin, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, of plagiarism.

Wang Yucheng first made the accusations against Wang Zhengmin in 2012. Last year the academic committee of Fudan University dismissed the accusations after an initial investigation. Wang Zhengmin himself also denied the accusation.

Yet the central inspectors brought a new hope for Wang Yucheng, who had sent evidence materials to the public mailbox of the team.

"We have high expectations for solving grievances, and we are excited," Wang said, expressing the feelings of his fellow petitioners.

Effective measure

The routine central inspection into provincial- and ministerial-level officials was launched in 2003.

In many ordinary people's eyes, especially petitioners whose appeals cannot reach higher level officials or were turned down repeatedly, the central inspection teams are to some extent the modern version of history's "imperial envoys."

The envoys, sent by emperors, would check the work of local governors and hear complaints from people. But although they provided a path to blow off steam and punish a few unlucky officials, the envoy system never changed the underlying incentives to corruption for officials.

Aiming to uncover illegal behaviors including power abuse and bribery among officials, especially at the top, local people believe in the teams as they think they can bring justice as independent authorities, a source familiar with the procedure who requested anonymity told the Global Times.

Over two to three months, the inspectors talk to 300 to 400 officials in the target agency.

After two rounds of inspections in 2013, Beijing arranged a third round to various regions and sections in late March, marking the most frequent checks in the past decade.

The inspections have shown some important effects. For example, following the inspection in Jiangxi Province during May and August last year, four officials above the department level including Chen Anzhong, former vice-chairman of the People's Congress of Jiangxi Province, were investigated.

In 2013 alone, more than 200 department level officials or above were probed, the highest figure since 2003.

Limitation and resistance

Multiple measures are taken to make sure the team is not biased. A different team leader is selected each time by the CCDI.

Scholars say the meaning of the inspection is to shake off local nepotism, interest groups and protectionism. But whether the teams can truly escape these problems is uncertain. Since the teams mostly target top officials, it's hard for locals to reach them.

The accomplishments of last year's inspections raised public expectations but also provoked more resistance.

In Henan Province, local governments have been sending round-the-clock teams in the past few weeks to surround a hotel in Zhengzhou, the provincial capital, where the inspection team is staying, to prevent residents from reporting corruption clues or sending appeals, the Beijing-based Economic Observer reported.

The Henan public immediately seized the chance to complain about officials of all levels to a designated "Window 8" at the provincial reception center, which receives complaints about officials at deputy-department level or higher.

"It's no use coming to the hotel," a staff member for the inspection team's hot line told the Global Times.

However, Henan authorities responded Wednesday that the communication channel between the team and the public is "clear."

Wang Yucheng experienced similar pressure from Fudan University, which stands firmly by Wang Zhengmin, its renowned professor.

Wang claimed that the Party chief of his hospital did not want him to talk to the inspectors, threatening to fire him.

A lab staff member who asked for anonymity told the Global Times that Wang Dehui, vice president of the hospital, warned them not to report on Wang Zhengmin. "He said it is useless since the hospital, the university and even the city all want to protect him."

The hospital is trying to kick out Wang Yucheng by failing him in the annual evaluation this year and again next year. "With two failures an employee must leave," she said.

It reflects the university's fear, Wang Yucheng said, but he hopes that the inspection team will eventually take care of the matter.

Fudan University was unable to be reached for comment as of press time.

Flawed but moving forward

Inspection tours are not a perfect method as they cannot possibly cover all places with all problems. Yet they will be carried out on a constant basis and eventually become a systematic anti-graft mechanism, said experts. 

Scholars believed that the inspection work has become a mode for inspections at the local level.

"Although the effort from the top level has better effects, anti-graft work at the local level should be strengthened to assist the campaign," Yang Weidong, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Governance, told the Global Times. In that case, provincial inspectors should go to cities and townships, so that ordinary people won't have to leave their place of residence to file petitions.

Moreover, the idea of "reform the petition system through launching online platforms" was proposed at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee in November 2013, prompting a spate of online petitioning systems.

Shu Xiaoqin, chief of the State Bureau for Letters and Calls, said that by the end of 2014, the bureau will connect its network to local bureaus.

By the end of 2013, 1831 counties and 275 cities in 29 provinces opened online petition platforms. In some places, online petition has outnumbered offline ones, according to Guangming Daily.

But another bottleneck in the system is the lack of an independent and speedy judicial system. Local judges often refuse to take on corruption cases for lack of time or under pressure from other officials.

"I hope to talk face to face with inspectors. They already have my materials, but I guess they are too busy now," Wang Yucheng said.