Seeking the identity of people who purchase face masks may be related to the recent oil refinery dispute in Anning, Yunnan province, says an article in Legal Daily (excerpts below).

Whatever the reason, it is wrong.

What local authorities should do is to conduct an investigation of this project and have more communication with the people, instead of issuing some ridiculous administrative regulation.

Fortunately, the relevant local department corrected their error in a timely manner and expressed gratitude to "the supervision of citizens, media outlets", which is undoubtedly a restraint on power and upholds respect for the rule of law.

Recent years have witnessed the overuse of real-name registry system.

The Yunnan case has again warned people that there is still a lot of work to be done to build a government based on the rule of law. Before issuing any regulation serious consideration is required to make sure it benefits the public.