A government-led austerity drive is taking all the fun out of being a Chinese official.
一场政府发起的节俭行动正把在中国当官的乐趣抽得一干二净。The latest anti-corruption measures, issued Sunday, ban cigarettes and upscale liquor as well as classic Chinese delicacies like sharks' fin and birds' nests from official banquets.
周日最新发布的反腐措施规定，公务接待宴请不得提供香烟、高档酒水以及例如鱼翅、燕窝等佳肴。It's part of a drive to portray the country's civil service as a model in austerity. So far, the public response has been a heap of skepticism.
这些规定意在把政府部门打造成为节俭模范。目前为止公众对此多持质疑态度。
The central government's most recent austerity orders take aim at some of the most visible symbols of official excess. Birds' nest soup, made from the saliva of swiftlets, and shark fins are a fixture at expensive Chinese soirees. Premium birds' nest can command $155 a gram, making it more expensive than silver, while shark fin can fetch up to $700 a kilogram, according to the Australian Marine Conservation Society.
中央政府最近出台的节俭规定瞄准了官员铺张浪费的一些典型事例。金丝燕唾液制成的燕窝和鱼翅是中国高档晚宴上的必点菜肴。优质燕窝可卖到每克155美元，比银子还贵，而据澳大利亚海洋保护学会(Australian Marine Conservation Society)称，鱼翅售价可高达每千克700美元。There's one caveat: China has tried to get its officials to dial it back before. It issued a similar edict seven years ago (in Chinese), though the wording used at the time was vaguer, calling on civil servants 'not to use public funds for 'excessive dining.' '
中国此前曾试图让官员有所收敛。七年前曾有类似规定出台，不过当时的文件措辞较含糊，仅要求公务员“不得用公款大吃大喝”。This time around, the government was more explicit. It named 'shark fin, birds' nest and other high-end cuisine and meals made from protected wild animals' as dishes that mustn't reach official dining tables. But the move should have come as no surprise to civil servants - Beijing last year warned it would introduce the prohibition soon.
这一回政府态度更加明确。此次规定点明“鱼翅、燕窝等高档菜肴和用野生保护动物制作的菜肴”不得出现在公务宴席上。但这一动作应属公务员意料之内――去年北京方面警告过将很快颁布禁令。All this is reshaping what it means to be a Chinese bureaucrat. In the past, the Chinese civil servant's position was popularly associated with perquisites such as black -0.31% cars, premium Moutai liquor and endless rounds of boozy karaoke evenings. That's no longer as true, with the government's anti-graft campaign extending to interdictions on alcohol, mooncakes, fireworks and those conspicuously inscrutable black cars.
这一切都在重塑担任中国官职的意义。在过去，很多人把中国公务员职位和特权联系起来（例如黑色奥迪车、高品质茅台酒和无数个灯红酒绿的KTV之夜）。而随着政府将反腐措施拓展至酒水、月饼、烟花爆竹、公务车方面的限令，情况发生了变化。On China's Sina Weibo microblogging platform, the country's nearest equivalent to a national forum, one blogger - who appeared to be a civil servant - complained that these new requirements were just plain un-Chinese. 'How can you treat officials of a higher position than yourself to a mediocre restaurant?' one blogger wrote. 'If high officials agree to dinner, it is too embarrassing to treat them to somewhere poor. Chinese people just love 'face.''
新浪微博上，一位似乎是公务员的博主抱怨说新规定太不符合中国国情了。一位博主写道，你怎么可能请一个位置比你高的领导去吃普通餐馆呢？如果领导答应跟你吃饭，你却带他们去个破破烂烂的餐馆，那也太没面子了。中国人就爱讲面子。Sunday's edict doesn't just entail food. The document also detailed regulations on the use of public funds for entertainment and limits the number of people allowed to accompany officials to dinners. It bars some from a travel entitlement to hotel suites, and stops bureaucrats from receiving a range of gifts. The rule's clearest expansions from 2006 were on the food items, a requirement for officials to submit details of travel plans, and requirements to disclose public expenditures on receptions to the Ministry of Finance.
周日发布的规定不只涉及餐饮方面。这份文件还在接待活动的公款使用范围和陪餐人数上给出了详细的规定，要求一些人不得公费入住酒店套间，并禁止官员收取一系列礼品。相较于2006年颁布的文件，这份文件在供应菜品，要求官员提交详细的公务外出计划，以及向财政部披露公务接待经费开支上做出了最为清晰的规定。The new regulation will also apply to state-owned companies and state-sponsored organizations, it said.
据该文件，新规定还将适用于国有企业和公有事业单位。The fresh proposals haven't scored high in public approval, at least judging by a stream of skepticism on China's microblogs. For some, there was recognition that the latest edict wasn't exactly new. 'What we need is not regulation, but the courage to enforce regulation,' said one user.
单从目前中国微博上的一片质疑之声来看，新要求尚未博得公众的高度认可。在一些人看来，最新规定并不是什么新的做法。一位网友写道，我们现在需要的不是制定规则，而是要勇于执行规则。'The regulations are (like) a kind father educating his good-for-nothing sons,' said one user. 'But will his sons listen? This is a warning to officials and is more progressive than practical.'
一位网友说，这份规定就（像）是一位慈父在教育自己那群一无是处的儿子。但是儿子们会听他的话吗？这份文件是对官员们的一种警告，与其说它具有实际意义，不如说它更具进步性。Wildlife officials say the new regulations could mark the start of stricter state control over Chinese trade in endangered species' parts, such as African ivory and rhinoceros horns. 'I think this sets up the new administration's willingness to reduce consumption of endangered wildlife,' said Jeff He, a Beijing-based communications manager for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. 'The current notice sends out a very strong signal that the administration is responding.'
野生动物保护官员说，新规定或标志国家对濒危野生动物交易展开新一轮更加严格的控制。国际爱护动物基金会(International Fund for Animal Welfare，简称：IFAW)驻北京的公关经理Jeff He说：我认为这使政府形成了减少濒危野生动物消费的意愿。当前的规定释放出了一个非常强烈的信号，即政府正在对这一问题做出回应。It's less clear whether previous government action has actually cut trade in wild animals and their parts. Wildlife groups including the IFAW, the World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace didn't have data immediately available, and smuggling masks actual trade trends. But China's commerce ministry has claimed victory in one aspect, according to the official Xinhua news agency. Ministry spokesman Shen Danyang said consumption of shark fin fell 70% and birds' nest by 40% around this year's Lunar New Year because of the anti-waste campaign, though the ministry didn't provide a specific time frame for comparison.
政府的先前举措是否真的减少了野生动物贸易则不甚清楚。包括IFAW、世界野生动物基金会(World Wildlife Fund)和绿色和平组织(Greenpeace)在内的野生动物保护组织无法立即提供相关数据，且走私掩盖了实际的贸易数额。但据新华社称，就某一方面而言，中国商务部已宣告取得胜利。商务部发言人沈丹阳称，在政府节俭行动的影响下，今年农历新年期间鱼翅消费下降了70%，燕窝消费下降了40%。不过商务部并未指出这一对比所参照的确切时间范围。