{"id":50437,"date":"2025-07-09T04:05:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T04:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/50437\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T04:05:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T04:05:09","slug":"china-told-its-officials-to-tighten-their-belts-did-they-go-a-notch-too-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/50437\/","title":{"rendered":"China told its officials to tighten their belts. Did they go a notch too far?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">This is the first story in a three-part series exploring the domestic economic challenges China faces as it navigates an unprecedented trade war with the United States. In this piece, we explore Beijing\u2019s drive to rein in wasteful government spending \u2013 and its unintended consequences.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Wang, a civil servant from a small town in northeastern China, is too scared to go to restaurants these days. He even skipped his niece\u2019s wedding due to his fear of being seen at a banquet.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">An avid foodie, the 55-year-old used to dine with his friends once or twice a day \u2013 usually at purely social gatherings unrelated to his government job. But now, even casual meals out can cause serious problems.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cNobody dares to stick their neck out nowadays,\u201d said Wang, who declined to give his full name for privacy reasons. \u201cSo I only eat at home now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wang is one of millions of Chinese state-sector workers who have been impacted by a government austerity drive that has sent shock waves across the country in recent weeks, hitting businesses hard and <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/economy\/china-economy\/article\/3315173\/overbite-china-urges-officials-pull-back-dining-austerity-drive?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">sparking concern in the corridors of Beijing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The campaign started in May when the central government introduced stricter rules for civil servants and state-owned enterprise employees attending official receptions, which banned the consumption of cigarettes, liquor and \u201chigh-end dishes\u201d.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The new guidelines were the latest in a string of measures to limit ostentatious celebrations by officials \u2013 a practice viewed as a waste of public funds and a slippery slope to corruption \u2013 that have long been a source of simmering public resentment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is the first story in a three-part series exploring the domestic economic challenges China faces as it&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":50438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[9710,64,74,22165,38083,38084,17437,38087,79,8464,38085,22643,1981,38088,6043,38086,67,132,68,11762],"class_list":{"0":"post-50437","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-beijing","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-china","11":"tag-chinese","12":"tag-chongqing","13":"tag-civil-servants","14":"tag-communist-party","15":"tag-economist-intelligence-unit","16":"tag-economy","17":"tag-hong-kong","18":"tag-kweichow-moutai","19":"tag-liquor","20":"tag-peoples-daily","21":"tag-rednote","22":"tag-shanghai","23":"tag-state-owned-enterprise","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-us","27":"tag-xi-jinping"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114821301812348147","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}