Opinion | Officials chided for taking too many days off for Lunar New Year

Long holidays can sometimes be too much of a good thing – as officials from Gansu and Hunan provinces are now learning.

According to the report, a large number of the town’s government officials and cadres - including the party secretary himself - has been on leave since mid-January and is not expected to be back at their desks until March 6. The lengthy 40-day break for the Lunar New Year supposedly follows state regulations.

"[Officials] need a break from the newspaper reading, online chatting and tea drinking they do at the office," one blogger joked on the Twitter-like site, Sina Weibo.

"These idlers should be given a permanent holiday," posted another.

Reporters visiting the town’s party headquarters last week reported seeing a “quiet and sparsely filled” parking lot with “no one manning the doors to the building”.