China warns of corruption behind high-end mooncakes ahead of festivals

BEIJING - With Mid-Autumn Festival just around the corner, a senior disciplinary official has issued a stern warning against corruption and extravagance.

While lauding the Communist Party of China's (CPC) fight against undesirable work styles, Song Dajun, deputy chief of the Party work style supervision office under the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said: "the root is still there even though the tree has fallen."

Song, who was speaking during an online interview made public Sunday on the commission's website, called on supervisory organs to be extra vigilant ahead of and during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays.

It is customary to hold banquets and give gifts, usually the sweet- or savory-filled pastries known as mooncakes, during the festival, which falls on Sept 27 this year. The CCDI is concerned that the festivals will be used as a cover for subtle bribery.

The CCDI on Sunday unveiled a new form on its website, inviting the public to report excessive spending by officials during the upcoming festivities.

Violators will be named and shamed in a weekly report on the website from Sept 16.

The CPC leadership in late 2012 issued the "eight-point" anti-bureaucracy and extravagance guidelines, and later initiated a campaign to clean up four undesirable work styles -- formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism and extravagance -- among Party members.

"The pressure must be maintained to deter and prevent relapses, " Song said.