Amid the painstaking efforts of the Chinese government to fight corruption, a new phenomenon has emerged in which many officials were discovered to have misused their power in the "golden age" of their careers.

The golden age of an official's career is usually around 39 years old, thus the name "39 phenomenon" given to the occurrence. But corruption during the "39 phenomenon" or an official's "golden age" is not a universal trend.

Advocates of this theory usually cite the example of Gu Fei, the corrupt official born in 1970 who was the ex-deputy director of Dadukou district, Chongqing municipality.

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Gu was arrested in 2008 and sentenced last year. But upon closer examination of his career, it's been discovered that he accepted bribes as early as 1997 when he was only 27 years old. Between the age of 27 and 36, he hoarded bribes of 1.64 million yuan ($235,000), $20,000 and HK$30,000. He also purchased many homes for prices much lower than the market value.

Before his case was brought to light, he never ceased accepting bribes and was consistently receiving promotions. It is a typical case of promoting corrupted officials, also known as "promotion of the sick".

It is clear that Gu had committed graft well before he entered the "golden age" of his career. His corruption had not been exposed until the central government strengthened its anti-graft campaign. Had the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China not taken a whistle-blower's letter about Gu seriously, he would probably have been further promoted because he was young.

In dealing with Gu's case, the higher authorities should follow the regulations on an official's accountability, and call relevant supervisory departments to check for possible errors in trying to promote an official. Officials who recommended promotions for Gu despite his corrupt ways must be disciplined for their blunders.

Since a person's youth has become a motivating factor in promotions, many young officials have been rapidly promoted to higher positions in the government. The strategy to "make the officials younger" has generated many benefits, such as doing away with the perpetual employment of aging officials, improving the efficiency of administrative works, ensuring that reserve officials be trained and the continuity of the government.

Many problems, however, have emerged, too. When some officials were promoted, age was the only criterion, while personal morality and integrity were ignored. Some mediocre and corrupt young officials were promoted. In recent years, many criminal cases have revealed that many young officials are no less corrupt than old ones.

Many corrupt officials, whose crimes were exposed in recent years, graduated from higher education and were promoted when they were young.

Being young and having a higher education, however, did not give them the spirit to serve the people and the awareness to abide by the law. The case of Gu Fei is typical. As the anti-corruption campaign progresses and the supervisory system is strengthened, promoted corrupt officials must be disclosed and penalized according to the law.

But officials who have been involved in corruption have become younger, too. Corruption has no correlation with age, and making officials younger is no elixir to keep the government clean from graft. The fact that young officials are corrupt only urges the nation to strengthen the anti-corruption campaign among young, highly educated officials. The government should enhance the education of officials in the "golden age" of their careers to serve the people and to be aware of the law.

I do not agree with the so-called "39 phenomenon" or "59 phenomenon" - officials who commit graft around the age of 59 when they are about to retire - because they are not universal trends.

The inherent features of power, such as inequality, exchangeability, and profitability, make it an easy prey for corruption. Any power, if not restrained, will become stretched, misused and corrupt. If there is no supervisory system, officials of any age group may commit graft.

Of course, some officials of certain age groups may be more eager and stressed to line their own pockets, which is their real intention of being in public office. Corruption at that age, however, is not rooted in the effects of youth or a momentary slip. Corruption is the product of subject, object, institution and environment. Hence, education, restraint and supervision should accompany the entire duration of an official's career.

The author is a professor at the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China.

(China Daily 01/15/2010 page8)