Chinese Communist Party Official Addicted to “Chicken Eating” Game Sparks Criticism

In recent times, the popular poker game “Land Eggs” is causing widespread discussion across China. An article in the Beijing Youth Daily recently criticized the current trend of “Land Eggs”.

It is mentioned in the article that in some areas, the obsession with Land Eggs has become a “poison bomb” eroding the work ethics of officials. Some party members and officials are so engrossed in the game that they cannot extricate themselves. Some officials, relying on their position, experience, and connections, adopt a casual attitude towards life, lacking ambition, being passive and lazy, spending free time playing Land Eggs, sometimes for more than ten hours a week. Some officials prioritize playing the game over actual work, mastering the “Land Egg philosophy”. Some units have formed a social barrier, where those who don’t play Land Eggs cannot fit in, and those who excel at the game are considered as successful officials.

All these behaviors reflect a new manifestation of the “lying flat culture” among some public servants.

In recent years, the Land Eggs poker game has gained popularity in the industry, with financial professionals using it to establish relationships with local officials for fundraising purposes.

The commentary in the Beijing Youth Daily also mentioned how some business operators, when facing challenges in corporate transformation, try to build relationships with leading officials through Land Eggs, using the game to understand the needs and preferences of officials and creating “favor debts”.

Land Eggs is a four-player card game using two decks of poker cards, where players must play higher card combinations to outsmart their opponents, with the winner being the first to run out of cards in hand, followed by scoring for upgrades.

Initially, criticism of Land Eggs was publicly raised by Lu Xiongwen, the Dean of the Management School at Fudan University.

At the graduation ceremony for the 2024 class of the Management School at Fudan University, Lu Xiongwen mentioned in his speech that the trend of Land Eggs has swept across various regions, indicating a loss of drive and entrepreneurial spirit in society, reflecting a culture of escapism and decadence.

In recent years, the Communist Party of China has conducted a series of rectifications targeting officials who adopt a posture of inaction and laying flat, demonstrating a prevalence of such behavior in the bureaucratic system.

On September 30 last year, the Party’s official magazine “Seeking Truth” published a speech by the party leader Xi Jinping, emphasizing the need to strengthen social opinion guidance to prevent the spread of “negative lying flat and other harmful thoughts”.

At the time, a senior executive from a well-known media group in China, using the alias Jin Hua, told Epoch Times that based on his interactions with officials within the system, the majority are dissatisfied with the current state of the system, criticizing the policies and actions of the Communist Party over the past decade for hindering economic progress and causing stagnation.

Chinese affairs expert Wang He believes that authorities are well aware of these circumstances, with a prevailing attitude among officials of inaction, reluctance to take initiative unless prompted, and manipulating policies to meet superficial targets, leading to a standstill in policy implementations.

He remarked that the current situation is more of a cycle of deception between officials, where each party tries to outwit the other, creating a state of mutual deception.

During the Chinese New Year last year, a skit on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala introduced a character of a “lying flat official”, prompting criticism from the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection against such officials. Analysts speculate that various factors have led to officials at all levels of the Communist Party adopting a laid-back and decadent state, with internal power struggles ongoing despite external appearances. The Communist regime is on the verge of collapse.