More than just Moutai

The public's growing criticism of Moutai, China's most luxurious liquor brand, over its close association with extravagant official banquets, is being echoed at the ongoing sessions of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

The price of Flying Moutai, the brand's best-seller, is now some 2,000 yuan ($316) a bottle, equaling the monthly wage of many Chinese workers. Yet despite its high price tags Moutai is frequently the name on the bottle when it comes to official banquets across the country.

Just before the Lunar New Year, the peak season for official banquets, a deputy to the Shanghai municipal people's congress Shen Haixiong proposed a ban on official consumption of Moutai, saying that drinking the highly priced liquor at official banquets is "an abuse of public funds". A sentiment heartily and vociferously endorsed by the public.