An anonymous online survey by TRACE International found that, of those business people visiting China who were asked for more than one bribe, almost 20 percent reported that they had been solicited more than 100 times.
TRACE set up an online bribe-reporting system that allows people to file reports in different languages about bribe demands. The first report by its online system (called BRIBEline) covered data it collected in China from July 2007 to June 2008.
- Eighty-five percent of the bribes were solicited by someone tied to the Chinese government. That includes
- 11 percent requested by a Communist Party official
- 11 percent by a police officer
- 11 percent by someone in the court system and
- 52 percent by officials from another government branch.
- Seventy-three percent of people who reported being asked for a bribe in China said they were asked more than once.
- The bribe requests ranged from less than $20 (3 percent) to more than $500,000 (6 percent), with 22 percent of them asking for more than $10,000. Some 12 percent asked for gifts, entertainment or hospitality, while 4 percent asked for more business, and 3 percent requested sex.
- Fifty-four percent of the demands were to induce action to which the business was entitled, such as timely service or avoidance of some kind of trouble.