Tone-deaf, expensive tourism songs draw a lot of flak

A government-funded tourism promotion song with a price tag of 3 million yuan ($440,000) has drawn criticism across China, with authorities noting that the costly project is not grounded in practical needs.

The case involves the Hubei Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and its affiliated Hubei College of the Arts, which was tasked with producing the song.

Zhaojue county in Sichuan province, a once impoverished area whose fiscal expenditure relies primarily on transfer payments from higher-level governments, was also reprimanded for budgeting 1.49 million yuan to commission and promote three similar productions.

The projects were approved without careful assessment of their likely publicity impact and reflected a tendency to follow trends rather than address practical needs, according to an official statement.

It also faulted the agencies for failing to observe the central authority's calls for tighter public spending, particularly for party and government bodies to lead by example in cutting costs.

The statement described the decision-making process as insufficiently rigorous and driven in part by subjective judgment, calling the cases emblematic of a broader problem in how some officials evaluate their performance.

The criticism comes as the Communist Party of China Central Committee launched a Party-wide study campaign in late February to promote what it calls "a correct understanding of what it means to perform well".

This concept serves as a guiding principle for officials, emphasizing that their performance should be judged by improvements in people's well-being and long-term, tangible results achieved through sound decision-making and concrete action, even if those results are not immediately visible.

Scheduled to run through July, the campaign seeks to address misguided approaches to governance that can lead to vanity projects, hidden risks, excessive burdens on local communities, and public discontent.

The February initiative is the latest effort to strengthen the Party's self-governance, following a 2025 campaign focused on improving officials' conduct.

Party theorists believe that the campaign on governance mindset comes at a critical moment. With China entering the first year of its 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) — a key stage in its drive to basically achieve modernization by 2035 — much will depend on how officials interpret and implement these goals.

Achieving the goals will require officials to have a sound understanding of what it means to perform well, said Li Zhiyong, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

Li warned that practices such as ignoring local conditions, blindly following trends, or chasing quick results could hinder progress during the plan period.

Officials should focus not only on visible, short-term achievements but also on less visible work that lays the groundwork for long-term development, said Wang Junwei, director of the Academic and Editorial Committee at the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee, adding that such an approach is essential to sustaining progress over time.

The statement detailing the cases involving the tourism songs stressed the need to place people's well-being at the center of policymaking, improve the efficiency of public spending, and enforce strict discipline against wastage.

"Every yuan of public funds should be directed to the most pressing needs, so that people can see and feel tangible, meaningful improvements in their daily lives," according to the statement.

Xinhua