Given such systemic debasement of merit, few Chinese citizens believe that they are governed by the best and the brightest. But astonishingly, the myth of a Chinese meritocracy remains very much alive among Westerners who have encountered impressively credentialed officials like Bo.
鉴于这种系统性的败坏，只有很少中国人相信自己的治理者们是最优秀和最聪明的。但令人震惊的是这个中国精英政治神话却在西方人中广为流传——因为他们碰到的多是薄熙来这样仿佛拥有众多优点，令人过目难忘的中国官员。而如今也是时候埋葬这一神话了。