To give, or not to give officials welfare benefits

Amid the call for frugality and the fight against corruption, many grassroots civil servants lament their shrinking bonuses, especially because their salaries remain miserable.

This has prompted many observers to say that the anti-corruption campaign has deprived grassroots civil servants - who have no way to earn money in the corrupt way - of the few benefits they were entitled to. But grassroots civil servants, despite not having much power, could be corrupt too, because they can actually influence many aspects of administration by the way they carry out the orders of senior officials. This is why the country's top leader Xi Jinping has emphasized that the anti-corruption campaign has to target "tigers" and "flies" both.

It was standard practice for government departments to give gifts to civil servants as part of their bonus during festivals. The gifts varied from a few moon cakes, packets of rice, meat and edible oil to shopping vouchers worth thousands of yuan. Since most of the grassroots officials got only small gifts such as moon cakes (as opposed to high-value vouchers), even people who support the anti-corruption campaign say the lower-rung officials should not be denied the benefits.