Liaison Offices in Beijing

 

China's central government has closed 625 of the 971 local government liaison offices in Beijing after the public criticized the offices for allegedly bribing central government officials and wasting public funds.

This past January, the central government ordered for the closure of more than 5,000 county liaison offices in Beijing, all of which had to be shuttered by the end of June.

The liaison offices were set up in Beijing by provincial, city and county governments to act as a link between their local governments and the authorities of the central government and the Beijing municipal government.

But for most people in Beijing, the numerous liaison offices impressed visitors with delicious food from their hometowns. The restaurants within the liaison offices are crowded year round.

One way for these offices to remain open though is to register themselves as companies due to the fact that the Beijing offices of local enterprises are not on the list of offices to be shuttered.