The Shanghai government issued rules on Monday banning spouses and the children of city leaders and senior officials from running businesses. The move is aimed to help uproot official corruption, and it has been described by some as the "toughest ever rules" in this regard.

For years, senior officials have abused their power to benefit their family members through their businesses despite central government rules forbidding such activities.

There is no doubt that Shanghai has a mess to clean up. In the fall last year, a central government investigation team found strong public grievances about senior city officials' family members engaging in businesses that exploited their guanxi (connections). But Shanghai may very well not be the worst case in the country.