As many as 40 government officials in Zhejiang province have been reprimanded for wasting work hours surfing the Internet in the past three days, the local discipline agency said yesterday.

"We've decided to cut the bonuses of these officials," said Chen Pushun, director of the working efficiency supervision office in the Wenzhou discipline supervision bureau.

The bureau ran a spot check on officials from 39 local departments and was forced to block online games as well as using stock analysis and trading systems, Chen said.