New | Chinese civil servant's article calling for government to sack half of its staff goes viral

A mainland civil servant’s article calling for the government to sack half of its staff went viral online before it was eventually deleted.

“The government will work properly or even much better if [we] cut half of the staff members and offices of the county government,” Li Changjin, who described himself as working as a civil servant for 34 years, said.

“Generally, the work for the government servants is too easy… and [you] can hardly find out someone who work at their full capacities for eight hours a day”, he wrote.

Government officials have often been criticised for being too bureaucratic on the mainland. However, since President Xi Jinping took office last year, he has repeatedly called for curbs of bribes and government spending, and for officials to stop “talking nonsense” at government meetings.

Li called for a policy regulating the income of government servants, as the ban on bribes, which prohibits public servants from accepting gifts and prizes especially before the Chinese New Year, has affected the wages of the majority of lower-level government servants in the middle and western areas.

Li said he earned a total of 35,000 yuan (HK$44,500) each year but that this year he would be without year-end benefits of around 5,000 to 6,000 yuan.