"A legislator can pay less or even no taxes. He can also have his project approved easily and purchase land at way below market price," Huang told the Global Times.

On August 18, 2009, Zhou Guangquan, former Party chief of Chaohu, Anhui Province, was sentenced to life in prison for corruption. According to Zhou's confession, he helped two entrepreneurs He Bangxi and Xu Dingfeng become Anhui Provincial People's Congress and NPC deputies in exchange for bribes and more investment in the city, China Economic Times reported.

He Bangxi claimed that he had acquired 270 mu (18 hectares) of land with an average land transfer price of 12,000 yuan per mu for industrial use in 2002 and 2003, the report said. The standard government price for land was up to 240,000 yuan per mu in 2005.

The newspaper also found that the Chaohu government signed another land transfer contract for 10,000 mu with He, who used it for commercial development, but the price was not made public, according to the report.

In late 2012, Huang returned to his hometown in Shaoyang, neighboring Hengyang, in Hunan Province, and planned to run for deputy to the Hunan Provincial People's Congress.

Though successfully becoming a candidate due to his donations to charitable causes in Shaoyang of up to 30 million yuan, he was eventually unsuccessful in his bid, as he failed to follow one unspoken rule.

Days ahead of the election, he was informed by an official to send red envelopes to voters - 3,000 yuan each to the county Party chief, county executive and director of the county people's congress, and 1,000 yuan each to everyone else. The official later brought him a name list and Huang prepared a total of 470 red envelopes.

But after having sent out 320 red envelopes, he stopped as disappointment and anger mounted. "The election was largely decided by bribes. Even if I get into the legislature, it's no longer meaningful to hold a position in a circle where officials and businessmen collude with and shield each other," Huang recalled.

He collected evidence and tried to expose the practice by tipping off related discipline organs. But the investigation was not announced until he made an open report to the media in late January 2013. The bribes were soon returned, but no results have been announced.

"The investigation was possibly blocked. I was under surveillance for nearly a month last year and officials kept lobbying me to keep my mouth shut. Someone even threatened to detain me," he said, adding that fearing his report may incriminate too many people, he finally gave up.

"Even to be nominated as a candidate, you have to pay bribes," Huang said, adding that a county-level legislator can receive at least 70,000 yuan in payoffs during the election season.