The luxurious office building of Jinan municipal government in Shandong province, which cost 4 billion yuan ($635 million), demonstrates a syndrome of big government, not only in terms of size, but also power, says an article in Beijing Youth Daily. Excerpts:

The local government rebutted media's doubts on the rationality behind such a luxurious building, with an overall floor space of 370,000 square meters, by pointing out that it accommodates almost all local government departments, which used to be scattered around the city.

These departments have exchanged part of their buildings for the new building, which was built by a real estate developer.

The local government thinks it is more economical to bring all of its departments under one roof.

As for the public's suspicions about possible corruption related to the exchange program, local disciplinary watchdogs have promised to try their best to investigate if there is any graft.

The fundamental problem is the government's exercise of power which lacks supervision. It is against the concept of a service-oriented government.

The low efficiency of Chinese government does not lie in the location or number of its departments, but in the overall style it adopts.

The government interferes too much with the running of the market and society, despite the strong demand for public services from it.