The credibility of the Chinese government has reached a new low: according to a new poll, Chinese people trust prostitutes more than they trust politicians.
According to an internet survey jointly conducted by state-owned monthly magazine Xiaokang and China’s largest portal, sina.com, Chinese netizens say that farmers, religious workers, sex workers, soldiers and students are the five most trustworthy groups among 49 different categories they were asked about. And 91.1% of those polled either have doubts, or disbelieve the government’s economic data.
Traditional, well-respected social elites such as teachers, scientists and various government functionaries were ranked much lower than might be expectated.
The annual survey, which aims to measure the overall credibility of Chinese society, was conducted online from June to July and successfully interviewed 3,376 netizens.
The sex workers are surprisingly prominent on this list of honor, which was released in Xiaokong’s August issue. A China Daily editorial said Tuesday, "A list like this is at the same time surprising and embarrassing.” The sex business is illegal in China, but ubiquitious.
China Daily further criticized the less trusted government officials and social elites, “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,” the editorial said. The five most unreliable groups, chosen by online readers, are property developers, secretaries, agents, show business stars and directors.
Xiaokang’s credibility survey also showed that Chinese people’s confidence in the government declined drastically over the past three years. Based on the findings, 91.1% of the respondents said they took all sorts of government statistics as reference, and some of them thought the data was partially faked, while some said they never believe government figures. The reading surged sharply from 79.3%, showing the government has a drastic, and worsening, credibility problem.
Xiaokang Magazine summarized the problem as a result of protectionism, conflict of interest, and lack of accountability among local government officials. China Daily also said the finding reflected a "quite severe" drain of government credibility, which is obvious in recent "mass incidents" in which distrust of local authorities turned out to be a powerful amplifier of public indignation.
China Daily said that local government officials are supposed to take care of the citizens' day-to-day concerns politically. “But since local cadres report only to their superiors, and their appointment, promotion and removal has little, or nothing, to do with the community they are supposed to serve, it is only natural that they are preoccupied overwhelmingly with pleasing their bosses,” China Daily said.
The newspaper called on the government to take action to restore its credibility for the sake of social stability.