There is a cultural pattern in China with guanxi (relationship(s)) and doing someone a favour. It may not always be regarded as "corruption" but in the end it may turn out to be.

True... When I was fairly new to China, I apparently nearly got another foreign guy in shit with their western company once for receiving a kickback from a Chinese landlord after helping that landlord find a tenant, which happened to be the said foreigner.

Although in China, getting a slight cut for helping somebody out is kind of acceptable (grey income sure, but that's China), the fact I got a cut would have gone against a few of the corporate rules that that the tenant is expected to abide to at it is his accommodation expenses that was provided by the foreign company that paid the deposit, the year's rent and therefore, unintentionally and indirectly; my little kickback.

I was advised to keep really quiet about it. Maybe I was silly to be honest about what was in it for me, but I wasn't helping this landlord out of the goodness of my own heart, lol.

Anyway, the foreign guy liked his apartment, the landlord was happy because he got slightly more rent than he would have from a local guy (the foreigner didn't give a toss about paying more, because the company was paying), so happy days, but... the experience warned me to be a bit careful when it comes to guanxi, it also helped me to wise up to dodgy shit that was taking place with purchasing at work, simply because I had this little experience of being involved in it myself.