Party members in wedding banquet soup

To have, or not to have, a wedding banquet for daughters and sons, that is indeed the question for Party officials now. At least, how big such a banquet should be is a concern leaders at various levels must meticulously weigh before deciding to hold one.

President of the Central Conservatory of Music Wang Cizhao was dismissed a week ago for holding a banquet for his daughter's wedding, and several of his colleagues received Party disciplinary punishments for attending the event. Wang is said to have violated Party discipline by organizing the banquet.

Besides, a village chief in chenggu county of Shaanxi province, who quit his post in order to hold a banquet for his son's wedding, received Party disciplinary penalty for inviting hundreds of villagers to the event and receiving money as gift from them.

That it has become risky for Party officials, especially those occupying high posts, to hold wedding banquets for their children indicates the Party leadership meant business when it emphasized the ruling Party would be governed much more strictly.

Since there have been cases of some Party officials, especially those occupying high posts, holding wedding receptions for their daughters or sons to extort money from their subordinates, the crackdown could be aimed at eradicating the corrupt practice. Some Party officials have indeed used such special occasions to take bribes, and their subordinates to "lubricate" their way to higher posts or get things done for personal gains.

In fact, wedding banquets can "legitimize" the exchange of money for power just as mahjong does; businesspeople and/or subordinates deliberately lose money to higher officials while playing mahjong in exchange for the favors they need.

However, it is customary for Chinese parents to hold a dinner party to celebrate the marriage of their sons and daughters. Traditionally a wedding has been a once-in-a-lifetime occasion that should be enjoyed by as many relatives and friends as possible, especially because it is considered a blessing for the newly wed couple. Perhaps the village chief resigned from his post just to hold such a banquet for his son's wedding.

The Party's move to tighten control over the behaviors of its members is more than welcome. The Party is totally right to take measures to ensure that most of its members become role models for society. And it is a political and social compulsion to punish officials who tarnish the Party's image by amassing personal fortune through abuse of power.

More important, it is absolutely justified for an official, especially high-ranking one, who is also a Party member to receive disciplinary punishment if he/she uses a wedding banquet to take bribes or extort money from subordinates.

Yet how to determine whether a wedding reception is a ruse to take bribes is not clear. The Party's Regulations on Disciplinary Punishments for Party Members only stipulates that a member who uses his/her influence or political clout to organize luxurious ceremonies for weddings, funerals or other important occasions is guilty of violating Party discipline and should receive disciplinary punishment.

This has prompted some local Party committees to make their own specifications on how many guests a Party member or official can invite to such a ceremony. But how can the veracity and solemnity of a banquet depend on the number of guests? A small number of guests does not mean the organizer will not exploit the occasion for personal gains. It seems some local Party committees have overstretched or oversimplified the Party's disciplinary rule on this specific issue, because the rule is meant to prevent such occasions from being misused by corrupt officials, not to prevent or make it very difficult for a Party member or official to hold a wedding reception for his/her daughter or son.

According to a story doing the rounds, a youth has a hard time convincing his girlfriend's parents that the wedding banquet cannot be too big because his father is an official. How does one reach a compromise between the youth who cannot have a big wedding reception and his girlfriend's parents who insist on having a grand banquet?

Maybe, its time for a clearer rule on how to politically sanctify wedding banquets and other special familial ceremonies, so that the corrupt elements are targeted, and ordinary and honest Party members and officials know what constitutes a clean wedding party.

The author is a senior writer with China Daily. zhuyuan@chinadaily.com.cn