Alcohol makers plan legal challenge to ban on boozy lunches

ZHENGZHOU, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Alcohol producers in Henan province have retained a lawyer to appeal a controversial government document that bans officials from drinking alcohol at lunch during work days.

Kang Yinzhong, a lawyer retained by the Henan Alcohol Association, said that drinking was a private affair and holding public office shouldn't keep someone from consuming alcohol as long as it did not affect their work.

The ban began in January 2007 in Xinyang City, Henan Province. Soon, other cities in the central province such as Shangqiu, Kaifeng and Luohe followed suit.

Local restaurants, which get a big part of their business from alcohol sales, saw fewer lunch customers and less revenue as a result of the ban.

"Since the ban took effect, I have fallen into the habit of not drinking at midday on work days," a local official eating at a restaurant said.

The owner of the restaurant told the newspaper that business at midday was not as prosperous as before and that only in the evening did it become a bit better.

Kang said that the public servants law does not stipulate directly that government workers are not allowed to drink alcohol at midday.

He said he was collecting opinions of liquor companies and would submit them to the provincial legislature demanding a revision or end to the ban.

Jiang Ming'an, a law professor at Peking University, said that it was understandable that the ban aroused controversy, as damaged the interests of the alcohol industry.

But the professor also said the document was not improper considering drinking could affect the image of an official and the government.

So far, more than 100 cadres in Xinyang have been reprimanded for flouting the ban.

"In the past, some cadres often drank alcohol together at midday, which affected their work efficiency and style," said a Xinyang citizen. "But now the phenomenon has almost been stamped out."