Chinese officials punished for drowsing in meeting

Chinese officials punished for drowsing in meeting

Beijing, China (Reuters): Chinese state media and the local government reported that six officials in central China's Hubei province have been punished for dozing off in a meeting on how to motivate lazy bureaucrats.

Amid President Xi Jinping's sweeping crackdown on corruption, extravagance and dereliction of duty, pictures of the sleeping officials have received widespread coverage in Chinese media over the past two days.

The Communist Party discipline bureau in Hubei's Xiangyang city on Thursday named the mid-level officials and said they had to write self-criticisms and make public apologies.

The Global Times said on Friday the officials had, ironically, been attending a meeting on how to motivate lazy and sluggish officials.