China's new president Xi Jinping orders Communist students to do their own homework
Work-shy Communist Party officials have been ordered to do their own homework and eat their school dinners as part of a high-profile war on "lavish behavior" being waged by China's newly elected president Xi Jinping.
China's new president Xi Jinping Photo: REUTERS
By Tom Phillips, Shanghai 9:59AM GMT 20 Mar 2013
New regulations, unveiled this week by China's powerful Organization Department, demand that students at the country's Communist Party schools "should write research reports and papers by themselves and are not allowed to hire ghostwriters".
The ban on ghostwriters is just one item in a strict new code for aspiring leaders being educated at the schools. Also forbidden under the new rules are "banquets funded by public money", overseas trips, "dinner parties" and "tourism or entertainment activities that are irrelevant to their studies".
Meanwhile, trainee Party officials will be obliged to accommodate themselves in "school dormitories" and survive on "frugal" meals in "school canteens." Communist Party lunch monitors will track attendance, party school professor Wu Hui told the China Daily newspaper on Wednesday, while "violators will be asked to leave the school".
"Officials are always too busy dining and making friends, and they do not put enough energy into studying," Professor Wu said.
Communist Party chief Xi Jinping reiterated those sentiments on Tuesday during his first interview with the foreign press in which he attempted to paint himself as a studious leader and an avid reader.
"We must fully devote ourselves to our work," Mr Xi told a small group of handpicked reporters from the so-called BRICS, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
"We, the leaders of China need to be fully aware of China's reality and aspirations of the people, and treat our responsibilities with utmost care as if we are walking on thin ice or standing on the edge of an abyss."
Since taking over at the top of China's Communist Party last November, Mr Xi has vowed to tackle the transgressions of corrupt and wasteful officials.
Mr Xi's campaign follows a series of embarrassing political scandals that laid bare the privileged and luxurious lives of China's rulers.
The new Party school rules also require officials to "reduce meetings, condense papers, minimize traffic disruptions during official visits and exercise frugality".
