University official punished for wedding gift corruption

A central China university official has been punished for accepting gift money at his son's wedding banquet, a practice frowned upon under the country's anti-corruption campaign.

Prof. Xiao Hong, former secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) branch at Wuhan University School of Online Education, was given a warning and ordered to return the 25,000 yuan (4,065 US dollars) stuffed in "hongbao" -- red envelopes traditionally used by wedding guests for giving cash to newlyweds -- at the event on on May 1, 2013, the Ministry of Education said on Sunday.

Xiao had followed requirements by reporting the wedding plans to discipline inspection authorities, which reiterated frugality rules. However, Xiao still invited guests filling as many as 38 tables, seven of which seated his colleagues and friends for a banquet deemed excessively large and high-profile, according to a ministry statement.

In a Chinese-style banquet, each table usually sits 10 guests.

CPC rules state that Party officials should "keep a low profile" in organizing family events and are banned from accepting gift money from non-relatives, especially those related to the organizer's authority.

The banquet "caused negative influence" among the university's teaching staff, said the ministry, adding that problems concerning undesirable work styles including formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism and extravagance will be seriously dealt with.

In China, guests at birthday, wedding or funeral banquets usually give money to hosts as a gift. However, such a custom also risks being abused as an opportunity for bribery.

Many officials take advantage of the occasion to receive money, often as bribes, from subordinates jockeying for promotions and businesses seeking contracts or regulatory green lights.

Public university officials in China are considered government workers under the supervision of disciplinary departments.

The Ministry of Education also wants to smooth channels for whistleblowers reporting breaches of the CPC's "eight rules," which took effect in 2012 rejecting extravagance and excessive formalities among Party members.

In a similar case, Cui Ruying, head of a township discipline inspection authority in Chongqing's Fuling District, was found to have received 107,250 yuan as gifts at his father's birthday party in January. Some 17,600 yuan of the total was from 77 of his colleagues, according to the CPC's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Cui was given a "serious warning" and removed from his post.

The January 2013 wedding banquet for the son of Wang Qinsheng, the deputy director of central China's Hunan provincial bureau of justice, likewise continues to generate controversy among a Chinese public growing increasingly intolerant of corruption.

An online post claimed that more than 100 justice officials and 20 police vehicles were spotted at the 30-table bash in a five-star hotel. Netizens described it as "an imperial palace party."

The official reportedly received 1 million yuan in hongbao. After Local disciplinary departments investigated the case, Wang was formally warned in June last year and he returned more than 100,000 yuan in cash gifts.