Ever wanted to know how much your local official at a state-owned enterprise is paid? We'll soon be able to know at least the pre-kickback rate: "The Shanghai State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission said they are working on plans to enhance transparency and public supervision of incomes at state-funded operations in the city. The initiatives include publicizing salaries of high-ranking officials at such companies as well as reports of how the commission values their work performance. The initiative has come in response to mounting calls from the public who want authorities to address the income gap between leaders and staff at state-owned companies and to prevent managers from being paid unfairly high salaries. The commission said top leaders at 75 state-owned enterprises in Shanghai, such as chairmen and presidents, were paid an average of 696,100 yuan in 2009, about 10 times the salary of employees at these companies." more ›

Leading Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei is being profiled on The New Yorker's Evan Osnos' blog this week. more ›

In a surprising bid for transparency, the Shanghai government is planning to make its expense budget public for the first time ever. According to the Shanghai Municipal Finance Bureau, all collection, distribution and application of special funds, administrative and institutional unit revenues, as well as the welfare and sports lottery revenues, will be open for viewing by the public. While it's still quite rare, Shanghai's not the first county to lift a veil on their money spending. Guangdong Province recently released their expense budgets for free download by the public. The response was so great, it crashed the government's website. more ›

By Richard Yu more ›