In the great scramble for money from the central government, thousands of Chinese cities and local governments set up lobbying offices in Beijing that sprawled to include restaurants, hotels and corruption. Now Beijing is trying to get rid of them.
More than 600 lobbying offices have been closed, according to a list the central government posted online Wednesday. But that's a small fraction of the up to 10,000 that Beijing reportedly wants to close. The very idea floated in January and reported in the official magazine Outlook led to complaints from local officials, who said a presence in Beijing for lobbying was needed because of China's highly centralised decision-making process.
But to many in the public, the offices were a symbol of bloated bureaucracy. Some guesthouses established by lobbying offices were accused of serving dual roles as so-called black jails unofficial detention centers for petitioners who came from the provinces to take their grievances to central officials.