Fearful feasts

The banquet thrown by officials of the Grain Bureau of Shandong province for higher authorities is the latest example of how precious public money is wasted. The grain bureau officials and their guests - 12 in all - splurged 14,810 yuan ($2,173) at a recent dinner.

Officials reportedly squander about 300 billion yuan ($44 billion) of public money on feasts every year. Though the State Council, the country's Cabinet, says the figure is exaggerated, it admits that the amount of public money wasted on entertaining guests is huge.

Public outcry over this misuse of money has not been very strong because of cultural reasons: The officials do not pocket the money but spend it on guests, something Chinese people have been doing for ages.