飯局紅線(fanju hongxian): Banquet redlines

Discipline inspection authorities in many local regions have drawn up detailed lists of banquets and business dinners that officials should not attend as part of the anti-graft campaign. The Hangzhou discipline inspection commission in East China's Zhejiang province requires civil servants to know clearly the participants and restaurants and especially who pays the bill when they are invited to a dinner.

While the discipline inspection authorities in Northeast China's Jilin province and Lishui in Zhejiang province have stipulated in detail 20 kinds of banquets and business dinners officials are forbidden to attend, including banquets using public funds, banquets between higher and lower level officials.

Banquets and business dinners offer a platform for collusion among officials and businessmen, and had become a breeding ground for corruption and abuse of power.

There is also a gray zone between a normal business dinner and a banquet for a dirty deal, and some officials take advantage of the vagueness of regulations to violate Party disciplines. The new banquet redlines clearly stipulate which kinds of banquets and dinners officials are forbidden to attend, which will not only reduce the wasting of taxpayers' money, but also shrink the breeding ground for corruption.