Ban on extravagance

More than 30,000 government officials have been punished for corruption and other malpractices since December 2012, when the country's new leadership issued a document to eliminate corruption and extravagance. Thanks to strengthened supervision, many officials have stopped dining in fancy restaurants while some others are busy hiding their luxury cars or moving out of their over-decorated offices. In fact, more than 90 percent government officials who responded to a recent survey said: "Life is becoming tough".

But an opinion article in China Youth Daily disagrees with the survey's results, hoping that the austerity measures remain in place in the long run.

The ban on extravagant parties may have hurt the interests of certain officials. But are these interests legal or illegal? Obviously, people don't pay taxes for officials to hold or attend lavish parties, ride luxury cars or indulge in other luxuries. Many of the privileges that officials had become used to were actually illegal. And the measures implemented in December 2012 have only done away with those illegal privileges, without reducing the income or harming the welfare of officials.