A poverty-stricken county has banned extravagant feasts, except for marriages and funerals, as the excessive boozing and banqueting is taking a toll on its people and economy.

Hefeng county, located deep in the mountains of Central China's Hubei province, is difficult to access to the outside but has become notorious for organizing booze-fuelled feasts where guests are expected to bring gifts to celebrate anything from repairing a house to a new litter of pigs, Guangzhou Daily reported

In May 2011, the local Publicity Department and Discipline Inspection Commission of the Communist Party of China, sent two teams to investigate the partying culture in 16 villages in Hefeng county.

According to the report, excessive feasts were organized to celebrate a whole host of occasions including a baby's birth, first birthday to people turning 36, 60, 70, 80, and 90. Other occasions like going to university, joining the army, repairing old houses, building new houses, and opening stores were also cause for a celebration. Some people even held a party to celebrate sows farrowing.

The standard gift money in rural areas is about 50 to 400 yuan for one feast, and one family usually sent gifts or cash totaling 10,000 yuan in one year for feasts, the report found.

Hefeng's Party chief Yang Anwen said the feast dinners became a financial burden for local people and also hindered the area’s economic growth.

"A man of over 60 years old can't work anymore, but he wants to move to another place because he can't afford the gifts," said Yang.

Lei Xiang, a law professor at Hubei University for Nationalities, said the government should not intervene to ban feast dinners, which in his view are part of Chinese folk customs and the main venues to socialize.

But Yang said this was more than social customs as it has become a way for people to amass wealth. The local government estimated the ban helped save 50 million yuan.

Seeing a business opportunity, Yu Simao established a company to run feasts in 2007. In three years, he hired hundreds of people and pumped in over 1 million yuan.

"It cost about several thousands yuan to run a feast, but you may get gifts or cash of tens of thousands yuan. Naturally many people choose to hold a feast."

Yu said his company suffered a 90 percent loss after the government ban took effect in December 2011.

While taxi driver Wang Fuchen supported the policy and thought it solved a big problem for ordinary people.