A couple of days ago, a netizen posted a group of photos entitled “Ceremony for the Relocation of Longhe Town Government.” The photos depicted hundreds of people in a spectacular parade organized into different line-ups. Police cars even attended to help clear the way for the parade.

The post and the photos have spread like wildfire online and have drawn different views. Most of the comments criticize the government saying that they spend too much money and time celebrating an unimportant event instead of solving people’s real problems.

Below is the slideshow:

Does Longhe Town qualify to hold such a big event? Is the ceremony necessary for an event such as the government’s relocation?

Longhe Town is located in Fengdu, a county of Chongqing, and is one of the nation’s poorest counties with a population of about 52,000, 42,000 of whom live in rural areas. The annual average income for this year is 2,222 Yuan ($296), which is 300 Yuan lower than last year. The town has five poor villages and 1,974 people who have difficulties meeting everyday needs. On June 9th, this poverty stricken town was struck with a flood.

A reporter called the head office of Longhe government and learned of the ceremony that took place on June 27th, which combined celebrations for the government’s move and the Communist Party’s July 1 birthday. An official, surnamed Yi, said the people in the parade were all there of their own free will. When asked whether the students in the parade should be in school at that time, Yi said it should be considered as an out-of-class exercise. Yi also said this event wasn’t costly but he could not give the reporter specific numbers when asked how much it cost the government to produce.

Below are some comments from netizens following the post:

“This event is very festive, but how much did it cost? Now there are similar ceremonies everywhere in China, which should make people think more about it.”

“I thought the ceremony was to announce the new Emperor!”

“What a blood-drinking society!”

“There is a police formation, student formation, official formation…, why isn’t there a mistress formation? This is not harmonious at all!”

“I searched online and found a lot of similar ceremonies for governments’ relocation. I hope the higher leaders will take up this situation during the 17th Party Congress.”

Chinese sources and photo sources:

– 1000 people parade to celebrate the local government’s relocation in Chongqing, via QQ.com

– Celebration for Longhe government’s relocation