China's central government issued a document on Monday to ban government-sponsored performances, saying that public money should not be spent on inviting popular stars to perform, especially during holiday seasons. This new regulation has been well received by the public.

China Daily comments that it would be an effective measure to stop governments from squandering public money. Some local governments tend to organize too many festival celebrations, sometimes even for quite far-fetched reasons. These activities are a waste of human resources and money.

Meanwhile, Workers' Daily notes that this measure could curb the unhealthy tendency for artists to always ask for more money. Within a reasonable extent, artists are entitled to a good sum of money so long as they do their jobs well and give excellent performances. However, some stars have been spoiled by various local governments willing to spend money on them, the paper says.

Workers' Daily goes on to say that ordinary people would directly benefit from this policy. As the regulation requires state-owned artistic groups to give more performances at lower prices, people would be drawn more closely to art and culture. Meanwhile, China Daily suggests governments save this part of money to further improve the livelihood of local residents.