The Internet has become a solid channel for the public to raise its voice against government corruption, and be heard, an official magazine reported this week.

Shocking revelations of scandals and corruption and massive public outcries online have led to resignations and suspensions of many officials in recent months. It is just a sign of how public opinion has influenced government functioning, experts said.

News of Zhou Jiugeng, the former district-level housing management official in Nanjing, who was sacked and prosecuted after Internet users spotted him in an online photograph smoking expensive cigarettes, and Lin Jiaxian, former head of the Shenzhen maritime bureau, who molested a teenage girl, have received almost 300 million views on the net, said a report in Xinuha's Outlook Weekly magazine.

Internet users also united in support for Deng Yujiao, a massage parlor employee who stabbed two local officials after they sexually harassed her.

Just days after the online campaign, the two officials were demoted.

Experts said the Chinese public, boasting the largest online community in the world, is now more determined than ever before to fight corruption.

"They do not give up until corrupt officials are brought to justice," said Zhang Xiaoyu, a former Internet supervisor of the Shanghai municipal information office.

(China Daily June 3, 2009)