There are three types of monster-sized "flies". The first are those exercising monopoly control over certain kinds of resources. Although China follows market economy, the State still controls some resources considered essential to the national economy. And since they are distributed through authorized agencies, officials who control their supply can easily trade power for money. Ma fits into this type, so do tobacco officials who fill their bureaus with relatives.

The second category comprises officials in charge of administrative approvals for enterprises. This system continues despite almost every reform being aimed at doing away with or reducing such red tape. For example, one has to get dozens of approvals to open a food processing or medicine plant, or a toy factory. Before the country's leadership launched the new wave of reforms, an official in any of the departments or levels through which the approval process passed could demand a huge amount of bribe.

The third group consists of village officials. They exercise immense power because they decide the fate of rural land. Many village officials have taken bribes from developers and suppressed villagers' legal demands while turning agricultural land into commercial land. Some village officials, many allege, could have made hundreds of millions of yuan.

Such monster-sized "flies" had been sucking the blood of the nation for years before they were exposed. It is the lack of strict supervision that allowed these "flies" to gain their giant size. Since most of them wielded absolute power in their departments, no one dared to report them to higher authorities for corruption. As a result, higher authorities did not feel the need to tighten supervision on them.

Theoretically, village officials are elected by villagers and are answerable to them, and higher agencies are supposed to avoid interfering in village affairs. But instead of being accountable to villagers, corrupt village officials often use goons to subdue them. And when profitable development programs come calling they make a killing. This has to be immediately stopped to protect cultivable land and prevent mass incidents by villagers who have lost their land but not fairly compensated.

But how to end the scourge of monster "flies" once and for all? The answer is clear: by canceling all unnecessary administrative approvals, breaking the monopolies of SOEs in non-essential fields, and putting village officials under strict supervision.

All these measures are part of the ongoing reform, and we hope they will be strictly implemented to swap the "flies" before they grow into monsters.

The author is a professor at Zhou Enlai School of Government, Nankai University.