China's anti-waste campaign extends beyond dinner table

BEIJING, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- China's official battle against extravagance is amassing real support in the country, and not just at the dinner table.

While the current Lunar New Year holiday is traditionally a peak time for conspicuous consumption, China is this year united against food waste. Echoing Chinese leader Xi Jinping's recent call for thrifty lifestyles, restaurants are buzzing with people advocating that no waste food be left on tables at the end of meals.

But citizens are finding that frugality means much more than that.

The People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China, published a survey last week, targeting the squander of excessive product packaging.

"Food should not be wasted, and conservation of natural resources and human resources are also as important," said Internet user "Piaoerbai" in a post on the Twitter-like Sina Weibo microblogging service.

Media and members of the public also criticized the problem of arbitrary uses of power and public funds behind the extravagance.

The newspaper's survey quoted a shop assistant as saying that the store had done great business lately with a government department that bought scores of bottles of luxury alcohol in flashy packaging as presents, indicating that public money was being spent on frivolous consumption.

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