There is strong pressure on Chinese civil servants to disclose their (and their families') personal assets. This proposal has been in the legislature for at least 3 years and is still being tweaked. But it's a tough sell: the bureaucrats are poorly paid and their performance is measured in a dozen ways every year. Adding disclosure to their burdens is tough. One possibility is to raise wages for public servants. This is Singapore's solution but it's an expensive one. This story shows how resistant normal people are to such openness: 

It's Ridiculous How Desperate People Are To Keep Their Finances Private

One of the reasons financial literacy is so abysmally low among Americans is simply the fact that the subject itself is somewhat of a taboo.

Parents hide their financial woes from children to protect them. Spouses hide their financial mistakes to save face in front of their partners. And children grow up thinking money is a dirty word that parents fight about, that student loan applications are simply too confusing to bother deciphering, and that if they overdraw their bank accounts, then it must be the Big Bad bank's fault. 

It's a vicious cycle, and although the fallout from the Great Recession left most people a little more open to the idea of discussing their money woes, the improvement in the economy may be giving them an excuse to go mum again. 

The latest COUNTRY Financial Security Index^® survey shows just how far consumers will go to get around opening up about their finances. 

More than 60% of Americans said they'd rather divulge their weight rather than talk about the state of their wallet. Not surprisingly, men turned out to be more self conscious about money than their pants size. Nearly 70% of the fellows said they'd rather fess up about their weight, compared to just 58% of women. 

But there's more to the picture. Men are more apt to lie about their finances in general –– 22% said they've lied about their money, versus 18% of women. Business Insider.