[seanmcdirmid]

No not really, but the national government wants you to think so. The local (less powerful) officials have always been convenient fall guys for national problems, as in "we are good, but our hand chosen underlings are the bad guys." The problems are pervasive up and down.

You'll find that a city like Shanghai or even Kunming are much better governed than the capital of Beijing due to strong local governments and less national government interference.

[rdl]

Shanghai is an exception, as are the SEZes. Shanghai almost seems like another country -- it's not as uncorrupt as HK, but is pretty similar to a place like Thailand, from what I saw of it (I know some people who have businesses there, and have spent about a year in total between HK, Shanghai, and Thailand, although I only did business myself in HK)