With new ways to make money come new means of corruption. So it has proven in 21st century China, where the wider ownership of cars, stock and property has provided corrupt officials with fresh opportunities for graft.

But the fight against bribery has become more sophisticated, too, and over the past year, it has expanded from punishment to prevention. There is a new anti-corruption body with wide-ranging powers, while a series of directives on graft have refined the definition of bribery.

The result has been a series of high-ranking officials sent to jail -- and in some cases, to their deaths -- to public satisfaction.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which initiates investigations of alleged corrupt officials, last year issued a crucial regulation that clarifies the "new forms" of bribery.

These include many imaginative and lucrative arrangements that don't necessarily involve a pile of cash changing hands: accepting financial instruments as gifts; buying real estate or cars at artificially low prices; laundering bribes by gambling; doing favors in return for their own post-retirement jobs, and seeking gains through specially-related persons.

The regulations then led to a judicial explanation that has helped convict officials who take disguised bribes. One such case was that of the former transport chief of eastern Zhejiang Province, Zhao Zhanqi, who used his position to benefit his mistress. He was sentenced life in prison in July for receiving 6.2 million yuan (840,000 U.S. dollars) in bribes, including 550,000 yuan that the mistress received. HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR NEW ANTI-GRAFT BODY

Expectations are also high for the the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention (NCBP), the first department of this kind in China, which was established in September last year.

Its founding showed that the country's anti-graft system has shifted from penalties and crackdowns to a comprehensive approach.

Chinese President Hu Jintao confirmed this in his keynote speech at the 17th CPC National Congress, the most important political document of the year. "We will fight corruption in a comprehensive way, address both its symptoms and root causes and combine punishment with prevention, with the emphasis on prevention," he said.

The NCBP is only a few months old and low key but its role has attracted much attention.

Although it is not involved in the investigation of individual cases, the bureau has the right to collect and analyze information from sources including banks, land records, medical facilities and telecommunications, and share it with prosecutors, courts and police in a bid to monitor the finances of officials and detect suspicious behavior, according to the statement issued when it was established.

It will also evaluate loopholes in new policies that may give rise to corruption, study countermeasures, inspect corruption prevention work at various levels, conduct pilot projects and develop a set of standards to judge whether a department or an official is clean.

People are curious about how it will function and what difference it will bring to the anti-corruption system.

"I think this will be a tough job, even tougher than investigating a high-profile official involved in a corruption scandal," said Professor Ren Jianmin, from the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University.

The work of closing loopholes and reforming policies will meet with resistance as it might harm the interests of some powerful people, he said. TRIUMPH OVER CORRUPTION

To see corrupt heavyweights fall has encouraged many, and there have been numerous cases in the past year.

On Dec. 28, He Minxu, former vice-governor of eastern Anhui Province, was sentenced to a death with a two-year reprieve for taking bribes of 8.41 million yuan (about 1.12 million U.S. dollars) from 27 organizations and individuals, the latest senior official to be brought down in a corruption scandal.

The most striking case was that of Zheng Xiaoyu, former director of China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), who was executed in July, the fourth senior official of his rank to be sentenced to death since 2000. Zheng was found guilty of taking 6.49 million yuan in bribes and dereliction of duty.

His dereliction of duty undermined the efficacy of China's drug monitoring and supervision, endangered public life and health and had a very negative social impact, said the Supreme People's Court when approving the capital penalty.

The case of former Shanghai Party head Chen Liangyu has moved to a new stage. He was expelled from the CPC and dismissed from all government posts on July 26 and remains in jail awaiting trial.

According to the investigation by the CCDI, Chen misused his power by supporting the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Labor and Social Security in granting huge loans from the Shanghai social security fund to his favorite private companies.

He also helped private companies purchase shares of state-owned enterprises, which caused great damage to public assets.

He Guoqiang, the CCDI head, warned last Friday that vigilant efforts to crack down on corruption will continue and those found guilty will face punishment.

The Party would continue its efforts to deal with corruption cases and sternly investigate and punish criminal cases involving "collusion between officials and merchants, trading of money and sex with official power, and severe infringement of people's interests," he said.

There is no doubt that the fight against corruption will stay high on the country's agenda.

At a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC last month, the leadership pledged to give such work a "more prominent place" on its agenda.

There is certainly a strong concern among citizens. Many in China were so enthusiastic in logging on to a new web site run by the NCBP to express their opinions that they crashed the site. They are looking for more new policies and measures to prevent and punish corruption from the plenary session of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), which is to be held later this month.

(Xinhua News Agency January 5, 2008)