A university student in Shanghai is asking for the disclosure of officials' salaries by sending letters to central government departments, Beijing News reported Wednesday.

Lei Chuang, a 25-year-old graduate student at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, sent out letters to 53 central government departments on April 13, requesting the release of information about salaries of officials in 2011.

Lei said his applications were based on the Regulations of Government Information Publicity, which says that information relating to vital interests of citizens or having the need to be known or participated by the public should be transparent.

The State Food and Drug Administration replied after receiving the letter and asked for the purpose of his request, Lei said.

"They said they need to study that and did not completely refuse my request," he said.

Some experts said the openness of officials' salaries does not belong under the category of publicity of government information based on the current rules.

Zeng Kanghua, dean of the School of Finance at Central University of Finance and Economics, said China does not have the institutional foundation of publicizing official wages, but technically it is not difficult.