SOEs cut annual parties under frugality call

BEIJING - The winds of a frugality campaign that has swept across China in recent weeks have also blown through wealthy State-owned enterprises, making them call off once-gaudy annual parties.

SOEs' celebrations used to mean banquets in starred hotels with big shows and huge prizes in the lucky draw. However, this year, a slew of such firms rescinded or scaled down their annual dinners after the Communist Party of China Central Committee promulgated a package of rules calling for official frugality.

State Development and Investment Corp (SDIC), China's largest State-owned investment holding company, didn't hold a banquet after its yearly meeting on Thursday. In the conference hall, there were no longer any red carpets, fruit, flowers, banners or balloons.

SDIC is not alone. A subsidiary of one of the country's major telecom carriers shortened its annual meeting to half a day and cut the ensuing banquet, an employee told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The meeting was even moved to the less prosperous southern part of Beijing to save money, she said.

As SOEs have joined the frugality movement, hotels, restaurants, florists and print shops have all seen shrinking orders from government departments and SOEs.

Earlier this week, a starred hotel on Zhongguancun Street, a road through Beijing's tech hub, was reported to have taken a call from an SOE canceling its reservation for a dinner for more than 200 people.

However, some other SOEs still decided to hold annual parties as scheduled, according to a report by the 21st Century Business Herald.

Many had already put down deposits with hotels. If they canceled the dinner, the money would have been wasted, a company executive was cited as saying.

The dinner would be much plainer than before, and there would be no more prizes like TV sets, the executive added.

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