Government moonlighters retiring fast

More than 8,000 of more than 8,400 government officials have quit their private-sector businesses as of November, according to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Xinhua reported. "Hongding Shangren", or businessmen with caps decorated by rubies, as the Qing Dynasty epithet described wealthy officials, have been the target of a year-long clean-up campaign aimed at ridding government of conflict of interest traps. The Organization Department of CPC Central Committee and the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection jointly launched the campaign in January, and according to Xinhua, all but 400 have either resigned their private sector management jobs or have been removed.