Corruption | Officials warned over ‘dark side of the moon cake’

Chinese officials have been warned not to succumb to the dark side of the moon cake festival, also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, and break frugality rules. The frugality campaign prohibits officials from accepting luxury gifts or using public money to fund trips or banquets. In addition, government departments are banned from distributing bonuses in name of holiday celebrations. These rules will be a priority in the next few weeks, said Huang Shuxian, deputy head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) at a meeting yesterday. The CCDI is encouraging the public to inform on any wrongdoing, and promised severe punishment to anyone found to have breached its rulings, Huang said. This year’s Mid-Autumn Festival falls on Sept. 27, three days ahead of the week-long National Day holiday.

92 kindergartners hospitalized after fire

More than 100 people, mostly children, have been hospitalized following a fire at a flower shop in Fujian Province, east China, yesterday. The fire broke out around 11:27 a.m. in Juchi Plaza commercial complex in Ningde City. Firefighters and residents rescued all the children attending a kindergarten on the second floor of the building, however, many sustained injuries. Witnesses reported seeing hundreds of people crowding the site of the incident at around 3 p.m. and all the windows of the kindergarten had been smashed. People flocked to help the rescuers, according to Liu, a witness. “Several children were dropped out of the windows into the arms of people on the ground below,” he said. A total of 104 people – 92 children and 12 adults – were taken to hospital. All are in stable conditions. The fire was extinguished by midday.