From the Chinese Press

Cuts in "abnormal welfare"

Spending on official gift giving and dining and drinking at the public's expense were less conspicuous during this year's Spring Festival holiday, but the traditional year-end payments and welfare provided grassroots employees were also not as noticeable, which is quite worrying, says an article in Beijing Youth Daily. Excerpts:

The public has widely welcomed the more frugal atmosphere in government departments and State-owned companies since the leadership introduced an eight-point code to cut bureaucracy and extravagance. These eight measures were supposed to cut the "abnormal welfare" some officials were enjoying, but the implementation of the policy should not hurt the welfare of ordinary citizens.