No Time to Dance

The bitter public gossip about banquets for a few while millions starved (TIME, May 6) echoed in China's Executive Yuan. Under Premier T. V. Soong, the Nanking Government ordered all civil servants to observe austerity. Items: no lavish gifts or ceremonies, no dancing. Those who enter taxi dancehalls or "any improper place" and those who "invite prostitutes or singsong girls to amuse them" would be fired.

Shanghai's municipal government, noted for its frequent banquets, promptly took the cue. It called a meeting of the local New Life Movement, adopted the slogan "Early to bed, early to rise," pledged tea parties instead of feasts, with no serving of wine or "offering of cigarets." For officials who clasp austerity to their bosoms, the Movement proposed a medal of honor and laudatory notice in the public prints.

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