Officials told to be frugal in mooncake festival

Chinese officials have been warned not to succumb to the darkside of the mooncake festival, also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, and break frugality rules.

The frugality campaign prohibits officials from accepting luxury gifts or using public money to fund trips or banquets. In addition, government departments are banned from distributing bonuses in name of holiday celebrations.

These rules will be a priority in the next few weeks, said Huang Shuxian, deputy head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of Communist Party of China (CPC) at a meeting on Wednesday.

The CCDI is encouraging the public to inform on any wrongdoing, and promised severe punishment to anyone found to have breached its rulings, Huang said.

This year's Mid-Autumn Festival falls on Sept. 27, three days ahead of the week-long National Day holiday.