The Shanghai case had been one of the most highly charged corruption investigations in the history of the people’s republic. By April 2008, about thirty officials and businessmen in all had been jailed. The size of the case and the ruthlessness with which it was executed was directly related to the politics that were at stake. Shanghai officials were surely right to say that their city was no more corrupt than anywhere else. Politically, however, their behaviour had consequences far beyond the city’s borders.
