SINGAPORE: China wants its officials to stop “throwing eggs”, with recent back-to-back commentaries published in a state-backed newspaper suggesting that authorities are concerned over the impact on work and possibly enabling corruption.
Far from actually throwing eggs, the term refers to a popular Chinese poker-like card game called “guandan” which has that literal meaning in Chinese.
The tactical yet luck-based game has taken the country by storm in recent years with an estimated 140 million players nationwide – straddling businesspeople, youths and even primary school children.
Guandan has also proved a hit among China’s Communist Party officials, according to media reports.
But in a sign that authorities are taking notice and getting concerned, the Beijing Youth Daily newspaper published three consecutive commentaries from Monday (Aug 5) to Wednesday, warning against addiction while criticising the card game as another form of “lying-flat culture”.
“WORTHY OF ATTENTION AND VIGILANCE”
In the first of three articles published on its WeChat account, Beijing Youth Daily noted guandan’s rapid rise in popularity, and how it has been described as a “healthy and intellectual form of entertainment”.
It also noted how people have commented that the game is a “required course” for grassroots cadres and even a “social tool” for corporate officials.
“However, as (guandan) becomes a new obsession for some public officials … individual businessmen … and young people, the guandan addiction has become a social phenomenon worthy of attention and vigilance,” the article stated.
The commentary described how guandan addiction is a “poison bullet” that has corroded the work ethics of cadres, and how some party members and cadres have become “intoxicated” to the game.
Guandan has also become a social barrier for officials as those who can’t play are not welcome at the table, claimed the article, in a suggestion that non-players lose out on forging closer networks.
Known as “guanxi” in Chinese, building connections is seen as critical in China for opening doors in business and other dealings.
The state-backed newspaper redoubled its criticism in another commentary on Tuesday. It criticised the trend of “lying-flat” or “tangping”, claiming that with the popularity of guandan in the past two years, “some people have taken advantage of the situation to ‘lie even flatter’”.
“When the tangping mentality meets guandan culture, leisure and entertainment becomes the most important thing (in people’s minds),” the commentary stated.
