Chinese trust prostitutes more than party cadres

THE FIVE most trustworthy groups in China are farmers, religious workers, sex workers, soldiers and students, a survey has shown, while Communist Party cadres are way down the list, a sign of how serious an issue corruption has become.

A survey by the research centre of Xiaokang Magazine, reprinted in the China Daily newspaper, was described as “surprising and embarrassing”, especially given that prostitution is illegal in China.

“The sex workers’ unexpected prominence on this list of honour, based on an online poll of more than 3,000 people, is indeed unusual,” ran a commentary.

Scientists and teachers were also given a low ranking alongside government officials.

“Yet given the constant feed of scandals involving the country’s elite, this is not bad at all. At least they have not slid into the least credible category, which consists of real estate developers, secretaries, agents, entertainers and directors,” the commentary said.

More than 91 per cent of the respondents admitted that they would take government data with a pinch of salt, a rise from 79 per cent in 2007.

Pollsters concluded that the steep decline reflected a “quite severe” drop in government credibility, evidenced by recent “mass incidents”, China’s term for protests involving more than five people.

Security services registered 80,000 such mass incidents in 2007, the most recent year for which state media have published a figure.

“In most recent cases of mass protests, distrust of local authorities turned out to be a powerful amplifier of public indignation,” the article said.