The general offices of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council have recently issued a joint notice ordering local officials and Party cadres to avoid extravagant activities and ensure public safety during the upcoming New Year and Spring Festival holidays.

The notice requires all Party and government officials to avoid lavishing public funds on festival banquets or extravagant recreational activities and not to take gifts, money or security notes from people who are seeking their favors.

Local officials should visit retired Red Army men, ex-soldiers and injured and crippled army personnel, and the relatives of revolutionary martyrs, as well as model workers, poor old people living on their own, and laid-off workers and jobless people. They should help solve problems of deepest concern.

It noted that migrant workers must receive outstanding pay before the Spring Festival, a traditional time for family reunion, which falls this year in late January.

Efforts should be stepped up to inspect potential safety problems and prevent and curb the spreading of bird flu as well as to offer more commodities and cultural activities to enrich people's lives, the notice said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 27, 2005)