Overbite: China urges officials to pull back on dining austerity drive

Leading publications of China’s ruling Communist Party have urged local governments to implement strictures on lavish banquets carefully, an attempt to temper overzealousness amid concerns from the country’s beleaguered food and beverage industry.

Qiushi, the party’s theoretical journal, said in a commentary piece on Friday that recent affirmations of the need for frugality in official meals are intended to limit extravagant practices, not ordinary dining.

“Some local governments scrutinise every meal gathering and intervene in every banquet. Some agencies, to ‘avoid trouble’, simply cancel all official receptions. Some cadres even go so far as to avoid normal working meals,” the piece read.

Such “oversimplified” measures have complicated understanding of the regulations in question, derailing their original intention and bringing “unnecessary shocks to the catering industry”.

Curbs on perceived excess in official meals spread across the country in May after the party’s Central Committee and the State Council, the national cabinet, released their “Regulations on Practicing Thrift and Opposing Waste in Party and Government Bodies”.

The document stipulates rules for receptions involving government officials or employees of state-backed organs, banning “high-end dishes”, cigarettes and liquor at these events.

Localities, to demonstrate their compliance, have rolled out their own guidelines on the matter, with some extreme cases receiving media attention.

South China Morning Post