People have every reason to ask how these unscrupulous men were recruited as government officials.

One may argue that they were originally morally fit only to be corrupted by their power in later years. If so, it makes the process of officials performing their duties more questionable.

Another example is more shocking. Lin Jiaxiang, Party chief of the Shenzhen Maritime Bureau, molested, or tried to molest, an 11-year-old girl in a hotel in Shenzhen on October 29 last year.

When condemned by the child's parents, the officials said: "Yes, I did it. What can you do to me? Tell me the price. I can give you money Do you know who I am? I'm from the Ministry of Communications, with a rank as high as your mayor. How dare you challenge me, you pigmies! Wait and see how I will give you a good lesson."

Lin's despicable behavior revealed what an arrogant official obsessed with power he was.

Lin was right - about his high status on the hierarchical ladder in China's officialdom - just as people were to question the process of promoting such low-lifes.

"Tell me who recruited this guy into the Communist Party in the first place," commented one angry Netizen.

Chinese people still hold strong confidence in the Communist Party. But many Party members have failed to meet this expectation.

They need to refresh their memories of the late Chairman Mao's instructions on the essential qualities of a Communist.

In an article commemorating Canadian Communist Norman Bethune, the surgeon who came to China to help the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Mao wrote: "We must all learn the spirit of absolute selflessness from him. With this spirit everyone can be very useful to the people. A man's ability may be great or small, but if he has this spirit, he is already noble-minded and pure, a man of moral integrity and above vulgar interests, a man who is of value to the people."

E-mail: liushinan@chinadaily.com.cn

About the author:

刘式南 高级编辑。1968年毕业于武汉华中师范学院（现华中师范大学）英文系。1982年毕业于北京体育学院（现北京体育大学）研究生院体育情报专业。1982年进入中国日报社，先后担任体育记者、时政记者、国际新闻编辑、要闻版责任编辑、发稿部主任、《上海英文星报》总编辑、《中国商业周刊》总编辑等职。现任《中国日报》总编辑助理及专栏作家。1997年获国务院“特殊贡献专家政府津贴”。2000年被中华全国新闻工作者协会授予“全国百佳新闻工作者”称号。2006年获中国新闻奖二等奖（编辑）。

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