Two education bureau officials in Tiantai, Zhejiang province, demanded kickbacks from a local printing company for each exam paper it printed. Within five years they received kickbacks of as much as 250,000 yuan from about 25 million exam papers. The practice of repeatedly embezzling while only taking small amounts of money each time is described by netizens as ants eating style of corruption. 

浙江省天台县教育局两名官员与当地一家印刷厂约定，印制一张试卷就提取一点“好处费”，5年共收受回扣达25万元，涉及约2500万份试卷。这种每次金额不大但次数很多的贪污现象被网友称为“蚁贪”。

蚁贪多发生在基层公职人员（grassroots officials）中。与被称作“老虎”的腐败高官（corrupt high-ranking officials）相比，蚁贪的特征是单次金额少，受贿次数多、持续时间长、不容易被察觉（not very noticeable）。

“蚁贪”任其发展必危及经济发展和社会稳定，破坏党和政府形象（undermine the government image），影响党群干群关系（estrange the government from the people）。