The government's anti-corruption drive has resulted in a decline in the number of people willing to work for the civil service, report He Wei in Shanghai and Zhu Zhe in Beijing.

Dai Qiming's memories of his first day as a civil servant are as fresh as those of the day he left the service.

Dai gazed across at a vast space in Xintiandi, Shanghai's most cosmopolitan district, where he spent seven years overseeing expat communities, and the rows of 40-story commercial towers that radiate in every direction.