Red tape "worse than censorship and propaganda" (China)

For experts engaged in simplifying procedures and cutting red tape across the world, this article from the NY Times will bring some solace: there are always places where the bureaucracy is more corrupt, where reform seems impossible. The article shows how Chinese bureaucracy ensnares and paralyses its honest citizens in a maze of red tape, with dramatic but also funny consequences such as: unmarried women do not qualify for the birth permit; unregistered children cannot go to school, etc.