The arrest last month of Zhou Yongkang, China’s security tsar , is an occasion to assess the controversial anti-corruption drive initiated by Xi Jinping shortly after he assumed office as Communist party general secretary two years ago.
Previous leaders launched similar campaigns, in what they called the party’s “life and death struggle against corruption”. But Mr Xi’s effort is proving more serious and enduring.
It has had a tangible impact on the daily habits of party members at all levels of government as well as in the party apparatus, the massive state-owned enterprises and the more freewheeling Chinese business world. It has even permeated the country’s academic bureaucracy.