Xi Jinping tighte the belt against alcohol consumption and the opulent living of the officials

Local officials gathered in March in the city of Xinyang in central China for a seminar on the regulations that require them to be frugal. During noon, five officials consumed four bottles of Baijiu, a sorghum -based spirits, violating the rules they had imposed.

One of them died that afternoon, according to an official report, which did not specify the cause of death, writes The Wall Street Journal. Officials present at lunch have tried to hide the illicit alcohol consumption, they show in the account, bribing the family of the deceased official and omitting alcohol consumption in their reports.

The main disciplinary agency of the Communist Party (Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection) highlighted the incident amid a new campaign to denounce the extravagant and wasteful conduct among the party members, emphasizing XI Jinping to keep in line what he considers to be hedonism.

“The leadership of the party spoke spoken and gave countless orders”, but some officials “ignored and showed no fear nor veneration,” the Central Commission for the Disciplinary Inspection in his statement on the incident said. “For such problems, we must insist on zero tolerance.”

CCID said that the authorities have punished over a dozen officials of the Xinyang incident, with sanctions that include reprimand, relegation, dismissal and even exclusion from the Communist Party.

Beijing has updated its frugality rules for party and state employees, published in May, adding provisions that included an explicit prohibition on alcohol, gourmet dishes and cigarettes.

Other clauses prohibit the floral arrangements and backgrounds elaborated at working sessions, as well as the purchase of extravagant equipment for events. The new rules, added to a 2013 frugality code, are meant to promote the idea that “buying is glorious”.

XI's restriction efforts emphasize how China's economic problems were reflected throughout the country, with a slow growth, a decrease in the real estate market and a weak work market, forcing many to adapt to the idea of ​​doing more. Many local administrations have been struggling with big debts for years.

Such difficulties have fueled public disorders and dissatisfaction with how XI leads the second largest economy.

“The updating of the Frugality Code will not solve the fiscal challenges of Beijing,” said Neil Thomas, a researcher in Chinese policy at Asia Society Policy Institute. “But he strengthens XI's political control over bureaucracy and improves his image of leader who opposes corruption and excesses, especially in a period when many ordinary Chinese feel economic difficulties.”

XI has urged officials in recent years to “get used to living frugal”, as part of a government -tightening campaign. He intensified the repression of the small corruption, which aimed at opulence, bribe and other deviations of the lower -level budget that affect the ordinary citizens.

The repression has taken the number of disciplinary cases at record levels. The party punished almost 313,000 people in 2024 for violating the “regulation in eight points”, a directive against frivolous and wasteful conduct that XI adopted shortly after taking power in 2012. This means more than double 2023 and 10 times higher than the total of 2013, the first year after the power of XI, according to CCI.

“It is quite clear that his anti-extra-treatment message, decades old, does not arrive,” said Andrew Wedman, a professor at the Georgia State University, who studies the problems of governance and corruption in China. Despite the law enforcement, “the cadres will continue to bypass these new rules,” Wedeman said.

The latest campaign against extravagance began in March, when XI launched an ideological campaign asking for all the party members to study the spirit of the regulation in eight points of the party.

CCDI has recommended a long list of reading, which includes four anthologies of XI's remarks on discipline and over a dozen sets of regulations and directives of the party, including rules against official meetings in picturesque tourist places and the use of public funds for the purchase of fireworks for the Lunar New Year.

Then, in May, the party published the updated frugality code, which included more detailed guidance on how public money should be spent for government meetings, receptions, travel, offices and vehicles.

In addition to the prohibition of the exposure of floral and vegetable arrangements to the working sessions, new guidance forbids officials the use of government vehicles for private purposes and gambling during travel abroad. Also, officials were recommended to avoid organizing activities for welcoming or receiving visitors in airports, stations and docks.

The new guidelines also prohibit officials from carrying out sumptuous renovations of party and state buildings under the pretext of repair works. Another provision requires officials to “prevent inefficient and inefficient investments.”

“XI wants to point out that the party management can detect and discipline the cadres that take advantage of their positions,” said Thomas from Asia Society Policy Institute.

The state press has given assurances that the revised rules will not affect the government salaries and are only meant to put an end to the exaggeration from the workplace.

The authorities also made a real show from the punishment of officials, more to calm public resentments.

In a recent case, the authorities in the city of Ya'an, southwest of the country, opened an investigation against a former official after his 17-year-old daughter posted on social networks a photo in which he wore luxury earrings.

The image sparked controversy, some users claiming that the earrings cost about 2.3 million yuan, the equivalent of about $ 320,000. Others have wondered how he can afford it, given that her father was once a civil servant.

The state press reported in May that the authorities in Ya'an discovered alleged deviations of the father during the time he was employed in the Government, between 2011 and 2017.

The investigators accused him of illegal involvement in commercial activities and of hiding the fact of having a second child when he submitted the application to engage in public office, a violation of a single child in China, in force at that time.

The alleged deviation of the father “will be treated seriously and in accordance with the law,” said state television.