Local people's congresses and people's political consultative conferences have changed their work style this year, practicing austerity for their annual sessions. This is a welcome change and should become a permanent feature of officials' daily life, says an article in Guangming Daily website. Excerpts:

Local people's congresses and people's political consultative conferences decided not to hoist flags and put up banners to mark their annual sessions. They even reduced the number of days for the sessions. This has earned officials a lot of public praise.

Extravagance and waste gives birth to overconfidence and arrogance, which has no place in any society. Some local authorities and organizations used to hold extravagant meetings using public funds and thus undermined the authority and image of the Party and government, and they were justifiably criticized for that.

But this time, the local people's congresses and people's political consultative conferences have set a good example by practicing austerity. Some local governments imposed a strict ban on drinking and smoking at the dinners that followed the meetings during the annual sessions and forbid the issuing of irrelevant brochures and souvenirs.

These developments reflect the central leadership's determination to fight extravagance and waste, and establish an efficient work style. And local authorities have indeed made great efforts to implement the central authorities' austerity measures.

It is, however, important to make the new practice a permanent affair in all committees and departments. People welcome the new work style, and they don't want it to disappear after a while, and officials can live up to people's expectations only if they keep practicing austerity and working efficiently.