Sound bites

"It is not a good thing that young people are swarming to take civil service examinations. That mentality is not right in the first place."

Xiang Pinghua, a deputy to the National People's Congress and deputy head of Lingxi township in Cili county, Hunan province, said that many people told him they vied for the job as a civil servant because of the benefits and power associated with the positions. More than 1.3 million people applied for the 2014 national civil service examination last year.

"The regulations (issued in December 2012 that ban official extravagance) by the central government not only benefited the health of civil servants but also help root out the corruption at dining tables."