Bans on gifts make life 'harder' for civil servants   

部分公务员因“禁令”隐性收入减少 考虑离职

　新京报调查百名公务员，全部受访者均表示受到了“禁令”影响，超九成坦言“公务员不好当”。一些分属各系统不同级别的公务员,近日在接受记者采访时坦言“为官不易”，在失去隐性收入后，一些人甚至考虑离职转型。不过也有公务员表示，受“禁令”影响应酬减少后，自己身体状况要比以前健康，也有更多的时间陪伴家人。 [查看全文]

(ECNS) – A recent survey of Chinese civil servants found that all respondents were affected by government bans on festival gifts and extravagant official spending, and over 90 percent said the bans made their work and life "harder", according to the Beijing News.

A total of 100 civil servants took part in the survey. The majority of the respondents said the government's regulations had directly caused them to lose "hidden income," and some said they were considering changing jobs.

Others welcomed the move, saying the bans had reduced unnecessary social engagements, enabling them to spend more time with their families.

Zhang Jun and Chen Fang are both civil servants working in separate cities in Jiangxi province. The couple previously earned around 8,000 yuan per month, with extra welfare covering daily expenses. But since the bans were issued, most of their "hidden" income has vanished, and the couple are struggling to survive on their regular pay.

Xiaoxu is a provincial official in Fujian province. He says that before 2013 his off-work time was occupied with dinners where he often received shopping cards worth 300 to 500 yuan.

But since 2013, Xiaoxu has refused all dinner invitations and shopping cards. "Seeing that so many officials were investigated and punished, I realized that the central government takes the bans seriously."

The bans have also influenced a number of non-officials, mainly business people or employees in regular contact with government officials.

Wang Li is a customer manager at a commercial bank in Beijing. She says many of her clients are from large state-owned enterprises, and giving gifts such as shopping cards has helped her maintain business relations and reach performance targets.

But since the second half of last year, many of Wang's customers have been refusing to accept any gifts. Unable to curry favor with these customers, Wang worries the bans might influence her work performance.

A factory owner surnamed Zhang in Fujian province, however, found that his expenses on "gifts" have been reduced by half in 2013, compare with the 200,000 yuan he spent in 2012.

Zhang says this year no officials have come to his factory in the name of "inspections" to obtain gifts, and that he has saved a great deal of money by not attending "official" dinners.

Zhang says he hopes the bans will be "effective in the long run."

Last year, China's central government issued a series of regulations for civil servants and Party members at all levels, in order to build a clean government.