Book on anti-graft rules a hot seller

Hong Qiong, a senior editor at the People's Publishing House, said it is the first time the agency has edited such a book.

A large number of anti-graft rules have been released in recent years, and if government officials are not familiar with them, they are likely to cross the "red line", Hong told the Beijing Youth Daily.

Yin Zhiming, a lawyer at Guangdong Shangda Law Firm, said that some officials may violate the rules even though they understand them.

"The Criminal Law has specified work-related crimes including bribery and embezzlement, but that cannot stop officials from breaking the law," he said.

Last year, 30,420 officials were punished for violating clean-governance rules, China's top disciplinary watchdog said.

The watchdog began releasing a weekly report on April 8 publicizing the names and misbehavior of officials. So far, 719 cases have been exposed.

Zhou Shuzhen, a professor of anti-graft research with Renmin University of China, said government agencies have improved their work after the clean-governance rules were issued, but they should do more to meet the demands of the public.