(Bloomberg) -- China called on officials to stop playing a widely popular poker game because it’s hurting their work, an issue that hints at President Xi Jinping’s long-running frustration with the nation’s millions of public servants.
“In the past two years, the “throwing eggs” game has quickly gone viral and occupied many people’s lives,” the Beijing Youth Daily said in a commentary on Tuesday, referring to a game that’s become a key way for businesspeople, bankers and government officials to socialize.
In certain places the obsession with the game “has become a ‘poison bullet’ that corrupts the work style of cadres,” the newspaper said. It added that the nation was “facing an unprecedentedly vast development prospect and growth stage, so whether to grit our teeth and fight hard or to sit around the card table every day, the answer is crystal clear.”
Another commentary published by the newspaper on Wednesday said exceessive playing of the game was “extremely harmful.”
The commentaries are a reminder that while Xi has become China’s most powerful leader in decades, he often has a hard time getting lower-level officials to act on his policies. In 2021 after officials were criticized for moving slowly in the face of a natural disaster and Covid-19 outbreak, Xi called on officials across China act more boldly when necessary.
There’s also been signs that the anti-graft campaign Xi kicked off shortly after taking power in 2012 is grating on officials, prompting them to keep their heads down rather than take action that could get them in trouble. At a key economic meeting in December last year, he criticized local officials for procrastinating or misinterpreting the party’s orders.
The card game Beijing Youth Daily referred is called guandan and involves four players. It’s become the latest way to tap into or improve one’s guanxi, a term that describes the sometimes exclusionary social circles, influence connections and relationships that help grease the wheels of commerce.
As in other countries, guanxi can pave the way for business deals in China — and serve as a source of corruption.
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