Corruption, extravagance strictly checked around China's festivals

BEIJING - China's discipline inspection bodies at all levels have ramped up supervision against corruption and extravagance, in case the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays are used as an excuse for lavish behavior.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) Wednesday launched a section on its website to accept public reports on violations of its frugality rules.

Thursday was Mid-Autumn Festival, the 15th day of the eighth month on the lunar calendar. Celebrated since ancient time to mark the autumn harvest, the festival has been an occasion for family gatherings. Two weeks from now will be the week-long National Day Holiday, Golden Week.

As the festivals will likely be used as excuses for corruption and vulnerabilities, the CCDI established the public tip-off page, with a four-week validity period, around the holidays.

The public are welcomed to report on gatherings, banquets, sponsored tours and bribes accepted by CPC members. The information can be submitted through the commission's website, its app and the official account on Wechat.

To curb risks, local discipline authorities have rolled out detailed rules. Jiangxi Province in east China, for example, has banned all Party members from attending banquets.

The CPC leadership has carried out a sweeping campaign to root out corruption, since it issued the "eight-point" guidelines against bureaucracy and extravagance in 2012. It requested increased inspections to clean up undesirable work styles such as formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism and extravagance.

Local discipline watchdogs have found that corruption has become more covert in recent years. In a secret discipline check by the inspection body in northeast China's Liaoning Province ahead of the festival, inspectors found that officials were invited to luxury hotels and entertainment venues, where only guests with VIP codes can gain entry. The discipline watchdogs in Jiangxi and Guangdong found bribes are often sent to officials via mobile phone money transfer.