China restricts spending public money on New-Year gifts

The top discipline agency of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Friday announced a ban against spending public money on calendars, postcards and New-Year cards.

The CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said in a circular that CPC organs, government departments, state-owned enterprises and public institutions are forbidden to buy, print, mail and give away New-Year cards, postcards and calendars. Those handling the affairs of foreign relations as well as of Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and overseas Chinese are exempt from the ban.

It is considered the latest attempt to promote frugality and curb extravagance among party and government officials.

All departments are asked to tighten up auditing and supervision of their money, said the CCDI statement.

Discipline agencies will closely supervise the implementation of this ban, and those breaking it will be seriously punished, it added.

Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional holiday in September, and the seven-day National Day Holiday in early October, the CCDI also issued a circular urging officials to refrain from luxurious banquets and gift-giving.

The campaign against extravagance started with an eight-point rule, introduced at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee at the end of last year with the aim of fighting bureaucracy and formalism and rejecting extravagance among Party members.