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Comment by hunvreus | Hacker News Reader

"A series of alleged accounting frauds this year at little-known Chinese companies listed in the U.S. has triggered a sharp shift in sentiment among investors"

I think the headline and even overall tone are misleading; things are however not always 100% kosher with accounting in China, hell even when they are legal and straight according to regulations they are disturbingly messy for any Western accountant. That being said, big US companies like Groupon commit their irregularities in broad day light and does not seem to shake investors that much.

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Corruption is the norm in China. Pointing out Groupon's problems doesn't change that fact.

Really, corruption is the norm in China. More so than the rest of the world? Have any evidence of that? that isn't anti-china agg-prop?

Business is clearly done differently in china, and there is a lot of protectionism, but that is not unique to China, I am curious why it is called out so much?

I live here in China right now, and I can safely tell you that a lot of Chinese citizens don't believe in their own systems due to the corruption. As one co-worker told me, "If things get really bad, you can always go home. But we have to stay here."

I think you have to live here to understand the level of fear around corruption and the lengths to which the government is going in order to stamp it out (not necessarily successfully). This is a country where an executive can get the death sentence for tainted food products. It's happened as recently as this past summer.

My point was about: why is china called out so much. Do U.S citizens feel that there is no corruption in the U.S?

> I think you have to live here to understand the level of fear around corruption

I'm quite familiar with the attitudes within china in relation to corruption, and have had friends who have been arrested and "disappeared" for corruption.

> friends who have been ... "disappeared" for corruption

I'm pretty sure this is an answer to your earlier question. Humans are corruptible, and thus all countries and governments contain corruption. But the governments that deal with their problems with fiat and secret police are just throwing gasoline on the fire -- i.e., creating an environment of mistrust and fear which only breeds further corruption.

But in general, people also tend to more eagerly report problems in rival groups than in their own. So I think China gets called out more on a primarily US bulletin board just because of the rival relationship that exists. I'd expect the same in reverse on a Chinese bbs.

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