On Tuesday, the Party's anti-graft body meted out disciplinary punishments to officials who, in six separate cases, had violated the Party's new rules on work style. This highlights the Party leadership's resolve to improve efficiency and put an end to the wasting of public money and other irregularities.

The Party's core leadership adopted eight rules in December, strictly forbidding government and Party officials from squandering money on banquets, unnecessary meetings and visits both at home and abroad, and unnecessary welcoming and sending off ceremonies for the visits that officials do make.

The rules even specify that members of the core leadership are not allowed to attend ribbon-cutting ceremonies without the approval of the top decision-making body. The top leaders have been setting an example for their local counterparts by embracing the down-to-earth working style the rules seek to encourage.