China’s official media calls for end to name-and-shame campaign against grass-roots cadres

Series of commentaries says insulting officials will backfire and more effort must be made to tackle reasons for perceived poor performance

Reading Time:3 minutes

The central authorities are trying to balance their desire to increase control over the grass roots with efforts to reduce cadres’ workloads. Photo: AP

Published: 10:00am, 6 Dec 2025Updated: 2:56pm, 6 Dec 2025

China’s official media has called on disciplinary watchdogs to stop giving low-level officials insulting nicknames that imply they are not doing their jobs properly.

The provincial publicity department of the eastern province of Zhejiang became the latest to weigh in on this issue this week. In a commentary posted on its official social media account on Tuesday, it warned that this approach was likely to backfire.

It criticised the use of labels such as “refrigerator” officials to describe those who “don’t speak up, stay cold and don’t change”; “treadmill” types who “look busy and sweaty but who make no progress in their work”; or “lipstick” cadres who make things pretty on the surface without doing the in-depth work.

Others were accused of “lying flat” – a popular Chinese term to describe those who make minimal efforts – or “lying on their side”, referring to those who only act when given instructions.

The article said this “label-based evaluation … smacked of sensationalism” and warned that it was a barrier to properly understanding the dilemmas and problems grass-roots officials faced.

For example, it said, those accused of lying flat might not necessarily be lazy but could be suffering from physical and mental exhaustion as a result of an unfair workload. Alternatively, it said, they might be worried that officials who took the initiative were at greater risk of making mistakes and being punished as a result.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x