Chinese pup previewing fall fashionsFrom the China Compliance Digest (Issue No. 22: July 2, 2012):
An article in government-run People’s Daily announced the broadening of China’s most controversial, corruption-prone categories of public spending — official travel, transportation, and receptions, referred to by the umbrella term “sangong”– to include pet-related expenses.
Chinese netizens have widely shared stories of officials’ pets enjoying luxuries bought with public funds. One of the best known of these so-called “canine consumer” cases involved a Sichuan court official who reportedly took his dog out for a drive in a vehicle owned by the court. In another account, an official of Hubei province brought his dog along to a government banquet and proceeded to order two dishes for his canine companion.
Both officials were censured for their misconduct.
Total “sangong” spending for 2011, according to state-run media agency Xinhua, was 9.35 billion yuan (US $1.46 billion), including 1.98 billion (US $310 million) in travel expenses, 5.92 billion in transportation expenses (US $927 million), and 1.47 billion yuan in reception and banquet expenses (US $230 million).
Sources: Xinhua News (新华社), China News Services (中新社), Yangcheng Evening News (羊城晚报)
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