Amid the Chinese Communist Party’s call for all levels of government to prepare for long-term “tightening their belts,” the weighty public reception account book serves as a mirror, reflecting another side of the CCP bureaucratic system.
According to a report by “Ban Yue Tan” on June 26th, a logistics service center in a county in western China is responsible for hosting major official events throughout the county. The public reception account for this service center in 2023 shows that there were over 270 official receptions that year, with a total cost exceeding 820,000 yuan.
In terms of the content of the official activities, receptions for superior inspections and research activities ranked at the top. There were 98 receptions for superior inspections, covering more than 30 specific tasks like anti-pornography and maintaining stability, accounting for around 35% of the total receptions. There were a total of 89 research and inspection activities, constituting around 32% of the total receptions.
A county official stated, “For some tasks, superior departments come to inspect several times a year, each time with a large group of people, and officials from the county and township departments must accompany and host them.”
In a town in southwest China, the expenditure on official receptions in 2022 exceeded 200,000 yuan, hosting over 540 batches, totaling more than 3,300 people.
To cope with the heavy task of official receptions, almost all receptions in the town were arranged at the town government cafeteria. A relevant town official said, “Some of the personnel receiving official receptions voluntarily contribute 30 to 40 yuan per meal, and we directly put this money into the cafeteria’s account for its operations.”
In a county government department in southwest China in 2023, there were over 300 domestic official receptions, hosting more than 3,600 people, with total costs of around 300,000 yuan. If calculated based on 250 working days a year, as one of the most important county-level departments, this department needs to host receptions more than once a day on average, with the average cost exceeding 1,000 yuan per reception.
“To implement the strict belt-tightening regulations, the ‘three public expenses’ of this department in 2023 were approximately 400,000 yuan, decreasing by less than 10,000 yuan compared to the previous year, a 2% reduction. The official reception expenses decreased by over 10,000 yuan, a 4% reduction from the previous year,” said a responsible person from the department.
Compared to the relatively ample ‘three public expenses’ of county-level departments, the official reception budget in some townships appears especially tight. In a town in western China, the final accounts of the ‘three public expenses’ for official receptions in 2021 and 2022 were both zero.
A responsible person in the town stated, “In fact, there are official reception expenses every year, but the town government cannot provide the funds for reimbursement, resulting in the inability to timely report annual expenses, hence showing zero official reception expenses in the reports.”
In a report by “Economic Information Daily” in 2017, inspections on poverty alleviation in Inner Mongolia were frequent. Within half a year, a banner (an administrative division in Inner Mongolia) underwent two comprehensive inspections and three specific inspections, with these inspections becoming pivotal events for the whole area.
An official from this banner revealed that in preparation to host another banner for a cross-inspection, the total expenses for training, travel, and receptions added up to 200,000 yuan, an amount that could have bought cattle for 20 poor households.
By 2019, the second year of the US-China trade war, the Chinese authorities issued multiple directives, urging all levels of government to “tighten their belts” and prepare for “tightening their belts.” In October 2022, when briefing on the ‘three public expenses’ at the central and local levels, authorities mentioned ‘tightening their belts’ eight times.
In March 2023, the Chinese Minister of Finance Liu Kun reiterated during a press conference, “The determination of Party and government organs to tighten their belts remains unwavering.” He emphasized, “Government belt-tightening is not a short-term measure but a long-term policy that must be steadfastly adhered to.”