China reprimands professor for accepting gift money

A Chinese professor has been warned and asked to return over USD 4,000 cash he accepted as gift during his son's wedding banquet, a practice frowned upon under the country's anti-corruption campaign.
Professor Xiao Hong, former secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) branch at Wuhan University School of Online Education, was given a warning and ordered to return the 25,000 yuan (USD 4,065) stuffed in "hongbao" -- red envelopes traditionally used by wedding guests for giving cash to newlyweds -- at the event on May 1, 2013, the Ministry of Education said today.
Xiao had followed procedures by reporting the wedding plans to discipline inspection authorities, which reiterated frugality rules.

However, he still invited guests filling as many as 38 tables, seven of which seated his colleagues and friends for a banquet deemed excessively large and high-profile, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
In a Chinese-style banquet, each table usually has 10 guests.
The banquet "caused negative influence" among the university's teaching staff, said a Ministry statement adding that problems concerning undesirable work styles including formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism and extravagance will be seriously dealt with.

In China, guests at birthday, wedding or funeral banquets usually give money to hosts as a gift.
However, such a custom also risks being abused as an opportunity for bribery.

Many officials take advantage of the occasion to receive money, often as bribes, from subordinates jockeying for promotions and businesses seeking contracts or regulatory green lights.