A plenary session of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection — the Party’s top discipline watchdog — approved a work report on Monday to be submitted to the upcoming 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which opens on Oct 18 in Beijing.

The report, summarizing five years of commission work, will also be reviewed by the 18th CPC Central Committee at its seventh plenary meeting, which starts on Wednesday.

A total of 119 CCDI members attended the Eighth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in Beijing on Monday, according to a statement.

Wang Qishan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of CCDI, addressed the session.

CCDI members also approved the punishment of two senior officials for discipline violations, the statement said.

Li Gang was placed on one year of probation within the Party and Qu Shuhui was given two years of probation within the Party due to “serious violations of Party discipline”, according to the statement.

A decision to remove Liu Shengjie from CCDI membership was also adopted. The statement did not disclose details on the three officials.

Since members of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection were elected in late 2012, the commission has undertaken a massive campaign against corruption and extravagance.

At its seventh plenary session in January, President Xi Jinping concluded that corruption had stopped spreading in China and a “crushing momentum” against graft had taken shape.

Jiang Laiyong, a senior researcher at the China Anti-Corruption Research Center at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the campaign has made fruitful progress in the past five years, and it has laid a solid foundation for the country’s revival.

“China’s anti-corruption drive has played an essential role in consolidating the country’s political stability and has boosted people’s confidence in sustainable social and economic development,” he said. Jiang said the current high level of pressure being applied against graft is expected to last even though a new CCDI is expected to be elected at the 19th CPC National Congress.

More attention also should be paid to low-ranking officials so that more people can feel and share the anti-graft fruits, he suggested.

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for enhanced and solid efforts to win the battle against poverty Monday.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, gave the instruction ahead of the fourth National Poverty Relief Day, which falls on Oct. 17.

All-out effort should be put towards poverty relief, as it is the toughest of all battles, said Xi. Remarkable progress has been made since the CPC Central Committee made a solemn promise to lift all rural people out of poverty by 2020, the president added.

Xi praised outstanding figures in China’s battle with poverty, saying that their fighting spirit needs to be celebrated and spread nationwide to encourage concerted efforts in poverty reduction.

Xi’s remarks came as a meeting was held in Beijing Monday to honor people who have made great contributions to poverty relief.

Premier Li Keqiang also congratulated them for their achievements and asked authorities to support their work and gather more strength from all of society for the goal of building a moderately prosperous society by 2020.

In a written instruction, Li said that China’s battle against poverty has entered the final stage, and authorities at all levels should make greater efforts to break development bottlenecks and strengthen the efficiency and effectiveness of poverty-reduction work.

Vice Premier Wang Yang, who attended the meeting celebrating the poverty relief role models, stressed the need to pool wisdom and efforts to make solid progress in targeted poverty-relief work.

China is closing in on its ambitious goal of achieving a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020, with the baseline task of lifting all people out of poverty.

As of the end of 2016, there were still 43.35 million people in China living below the country’s poverty line of 2,300 yuan (344 U.S. dollars) of annual income, accounting for about 3 percent of China’s population.

Sometimes celebrities’ personal revelations can ignite earthquake-sized social media bombs, thanks to the power of the internet.

Lu Han and Guan Xiaotong.[Photo/weixin]

Lu Han, a popular young actor and singer, abruptly introduced his girlfriend on social media to the public on Sunday, paralyzing servers for a moment due to a huge traffic spike.

He posted a thread on Weibo, China’s most popular social platform, saying “Hi everyone, this is my girlfriend @Guan Xiaotong” with a link to her page and her photo. Guan Xiaotong is a well-known young actress whose star is rising.

His revelation caused a sudden breakdown of Weibo’s server due to the traffic. Ding Zhenkai, a Weibo user who describes himself as a programmer at the site, said he got called to work on the breakdown during his wedding.

He later posted a picture from work, saying “The server is back on and my father-in-law is calling me to drink with him. Look at the trouble Lu did!” In the picture, he is working on a computer wearing a wedding suit and corsage.

The news exploded his fan community. As of 11 am Monday, about 23 hours after Lu posted, his post received 4.72 million likes and 2.25 million comments.

Many people expressed their heartbreak about the news their fantasy idol no longer just belonged to his fans, claiming to unfollow him. However, Lu’s followers have increased by 1.45 million.

Some fans refused to accept the news, saying it’s a publicity stunt as a new TV show starring Lu and Guan is soon to premiere. But Lu’s manager publicly cleared the air to say it’s no stunt, and to give them his blessing.

The text of Lu’s post, “Hi everyone, this is my girlfriend,” with users adding a different picture, has become a trending topic with parodies galore on social media.

Lu, heavily favored by younger generations, has been on the A-list for the last few years.

Last April, Lu posted a picture of him and a postbox in a Shanghai neighborhood, a day before his concert there. The mailbox soon became a social media hit, with fans lining up for 200 to 300 meters to take a picture. Some fans had to queue for a photo until 4 am the next day. The post office even installed antlers, as Lu means “deer” in Chinese, on the box to stay up on the trend.

The country’s top personnel authorities and relevant State agencies have jointly issued a document stipulating that civil servants must truthfully report to the authorities their new job when they decide to resign and they should not work for businesses that fall into their previous administrative jurisdiction within a given period of time.

Given the special nature of government posts, the document is widely viewed as a move to draw a red line for government employees who plan to leave public office for another job so they cannot wield any undue influence after they resign from their official positions.

The latest document is not aimed at blocking civil servants’ “route of retreat” as some claim, but to make clear that those who resign from government posts do so under certain restrictions. Like anyone else, civil servants have the right to change jobs based on their own preferences, and their resignations should not be excessively interpreted as a means for them to try and evade investigation and punishment for any misdeeds.

However, the red line drawn for their new jobs is by no means redundant, given that the enormous public resources government officials usually hold means the residual influence they retain after their resignation can still be tapped by some enterprises to gain an upper hand over market competitors.

Thus the move is a timely and also necessary one by the authorities as it is a concrete measure to separate public power from government employees that resign and so prevent collusion between government and business.

The restrictive reemployment choices set by the authorities for resigning public servants are mainly aimed at making transparent their job choices and plugging the loopholes for potential corruption. It is also a reminder to resigning public employees that they should abandon the illusion they will be able make a fortune by wielding influence after leaving their posts.

China’s Good Samaritan law went into effect on Oct. 1 to protect people who are ready to help others.

Under the legislation, people who voluntarily offer emergency assistance to those who are, or who they believe to be, injured, ill, in danger, or otherwise incapacitated, will not have civil liability in the event of harm to the victims.

It aims to ease the reluctance people feel toward helping strangers for fear of legal repercussions if they make mistakes in treatment.

The legislation responds to the phenomenon of people refraining from assisting fallen senior citizens over concerns of being blackmailed later, said Wang Cheng, professor at Peking University Law School.

The law will reduce bystanders’ hesitation to assist, said Wang.

In 2011, a two-year-old girl was run over by two cars, and 18 passersby did not offer emergency help. The girl died later after days of medical treatment.

In 2014, a man from south China’s Guangdong Province aided a senior citizen but was accused of knocking him down. The man committed suicide when faced with demands for compensation.

“If you don’t provide help, you will blame yourself, but if you do help, you are likely to be hurt by the people you help. It is really a dilemma,” said one comment on China’s microblog Sina Weibo.

These disputes have sparked debate about morality and heroism in the country in recent years.

“There is no need to discuss whether or not you should aid people in distress. Your help is a matter of life or death for the person who is injured,” said Wang.

If a code of conduct is not enough to prevent unethical behavior, it is time for the law to address it, said Liu Jiehui, a judge with the Intermediate People’s Court of Shenzhen City in Guangdong.

In 2012, China’s State Council published a paper outlining ideas to help protect Good Samaritans that would provide preferential polices in employment and other fields.

Although there had been calls for a national Good Samaritan law, only a few cities pushed ahead with such legislation before the nationwide law came into effect.

In 2013, Shenzhen said anyone who wants to claim compensation needs to collect evidence first.

Shanghai in 2016 enacted a policy that protects the public from liability during rescues and rescue attempts.

The national Good Samaritan law underwent three amendments from December 2016 to March 2017 before it was introduced in October.

The nationwide Good Samaritan law will help create a better social atmosphere for helping others, said Liu.

Some experts are concerned that there will be some danger from a nationwide Good Samaritan law.

“Rescuers who know little about medical treatment could bring serious harm to people in critical condition,” said Yang Lixin, a professor with the Renmin University of China.

He hoped the government could introduce details of the policy soon while encouraging people to voluntarily offer assistance.