No extravagance is good for governance

ZHANG JUN, deputy chief of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Party's top disciplinary watchdog, said recently that Party members can enjoy a good life with legal income, but they should avoid excessive spending because that's against the philosophy of the Party. A column in Beijing Youth Daily explains why strict discipline is needed:

The senior official is actually repeating the requirement of a disciplinary regulation issued by the Communist Party of China this October. No law forbids a citizen from living luxuriously. So why does Party discipline demand higher standards of its members?

Because the CPC is the ruling party and many of its members are government officials or the managers of State-owned enterprises. Their incomes, which are sufficient to support a luxurious lifestyle, mainly come from taxpayers' money.