Ancient systems of punishing an entire clan actually had their reasons. Take Xu Huping, the 82-year-old former director, for example—current laws are almost helpless against him—he's almost buried, and even if he's sentenced, he won't serve many days. But when he was director, 1,259 cultural relics mysteriously went missing, a bunch of national treasures were suspected to have been swapped, and what happened? His son immediately opened an auction house, the two of them cooperating seamlessly, truly the biggest parasites in the 21st-century relics world.

In ancient times, such damage would have led to a family being wiped out. But now? At most, one person goes to jail, and his descendants still take civil service exams and enjoy their lives—there's essentially no cost. That’s the real problem.

I think we should really implement the logic of punishing the entire clan—investigate three generations. Corrupt officials' children should be permanently barred from taking exams and entering the system. Otherwise, today’s corrupt official falls, and tomorrow another pops up—this is why corruption is so hard to eradicate. The low cost of breaking the law is the fundamental issue. As long as family members can still get promoted and make money, who will truly fear the law? Although punishing an entire clan sounds brutal, to some extent, it captures the essence of corruption—without the family’s consequences, individual punishment will never be enough to deter.