These items included bonuses, allowances, overtime pay, and a sprawling array of in-kind (nonmonetized) benefits, such as “daily necessities like rice and eggs, electricity, and gas,”88 “housing at greatly subsidized prices,”89 and “luxurious office buildings.”90 In one county I visited, cadres regularly took home gifts from their departments, such as seafood, skin care products, visits to salons, and even shopping certificates.
