Keywords: China, corruption, legal system, legislation, death penalty, legal liability P. V. TROSHCHINSKY Candidate of Legal Sciences Far East Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences Throughout the history of China, the fight against corruption has been one of the main tasks that the authorities have set for themselves, trying to improve the current model of government. The public's attitude towards corrupt officials has always been extremely negative. The stories of the outstanding Chinese short story writer Pu Sun-ling (1622-1715) describe the tragic death of one of the officials who was punished by Heaven for bribery. The words that begin the story are characteristic: "A prominent official often acted shamelessly. His wife always warned him and admonished him, saying that retribution awaited him. But he did not believe it and did not want to listen to it at all ... " 1. During the construction of the Great Wall of China, in order to combat "waste", inscriptions were carved on the stones embedded in the wall with the names and ranks of officials responsible for construction work. "In cases where a collapse or damage to a wall was detected, the inspector quickly found those responsible for the relevant work area." 2 After the founding of the People's Republic of China (1949) and before the beginning of the reform and opening-up policy (December 1978), the level of corruption in Chinese society, as well as crime in general, was extremely low. During the reign of Mao Zedong, any violation of the socialist rule of law was punished extremely severely, and the repressive measures taken discouraged potential criminals from breaking the rules adopted in society. In addition, the centrally planned economy, the lack of freedom of entrepreneurship, and the rejection of the cult of profit among Chinese citizens all contributed to reducing the level of corruption to a level never seen in China's history. And this is despite the fact that the country did not have any anti- ... Читать далее