Lord Acton, the 19th-century British historian, famously observed: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Corruption is indeed intrinsically linked to power, yet to truly comprehend the operational logic of contemporary China’s anti-corruption system, we must also focus on those actors not situated at the core of power, including corporate practitioners, managers, ordinary employees, and even legal professionals. It is within their daily practices that the micro-mechanisms of corruption are perceived, accommodated, and even participated in.