China’s civil servants ordered to tighten their belts

For Timothy Tian, like millions of other Chinese civil servants, the forthcoming Lunar New Year promises to be an austere one as government workers face the toughest round of belt-tightening in a decade.

Even if Covid restrictions allow it, the city government worker from the eastern province of Zhejiang cannot afford to travel after his monthly pay packet was cut by about 2,000 yuan (US$315) to 5,000 yuan.