How did "four dishes and one soup" come from?

In a.d. 1368, after Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself emperor, he encountered natural disasters and failed to harvest everywhere. The people's life is very poor, but some dignitaries live a luxurious life. Zhu Yuanzhang, a poor beggar, was very angry and determined to rectify. One day, during the queen's birthday, Zhu Yuanzhang took advantage of the opportunity of many ministers to congratulate her birthday and deliberately set up a simple meal to warn the civil and military officials. More than ten tables were seated, and Taizu ordered the maid-in-waiting to serve. The first course is fried radish, radish and hundreds of herbs. There is a folk saying that "radishes are on the market, but pharmacies are closed". The second dish is fried leek, which is full of vitality and evergreen all the year round, symbolizing the long-term stability of the country. Then there are two bowls of vegetables, which is a metaphor for being honest and clean. Finally, the common chopped green onion tofu soup. After the banquet, Zhu Yuanzhang announced in public: "In the future, all guests can only treat each other with' four dishes and one soup'. This queen's birthday party is an example, and anyone who violates it will pay a hell of a price. " .

In fact, as early as the early 1980s, the central government issued the regulation of "four dishes and one soup", but the effect was not good, because many four dishes and one soup were richer than the usual ten dishes and three soups, and many cadres even turned their subordinate four-star hotels into five-star hotels to enjoy. At that time, the central government also announced that those corrupt officials could be exempted from punishment as long as they returned the corrupt money within a time limit, but few people responded. It is said that some people responded to the exemption at that time, and then they became greedy.

This kind of thing rarely happens in American officialdom, because every official's activity funds are limited to a very low amount. Even some high-priced five-star hotels like Locke may not be able to stay. If you want to stay, you can pay for the cost overruns yourself, but most American officials are too thick-skinned to worry about it. More importantly, no one around dares to pay for them, for fear of being caught by others, and others will not mention the benefits in this regard if they know it. Nowadays, even China Malik often goes out to buy lunch boxes by himself. Where can I entertain them with four dishes and one soup? This is not to say that there are no corrupt officials in the United States. Strangely, there are no corrupt officials, but there are no greedy four dishes and one soup. Eating is not the problem, but who pays the bill.

These four dishes and one soup are just a form, in which the weight, materials, chefs, venues, waiters, sanitary conditions and so on are all variables, which may be used by some people. People in China like to eat at the same table and help others with their own chopsticks, which is neither hygienic nor elegant. What should we do if this happens at the general secretary's dinner table? The general secretary didn't emphasize alcohol, which, to a certain extent, avoided noisy and rude behaviors such as persuading wine, fighting wine, punching and calling orders, and also played a positive role in preventing cadres from letting female subordinates accompany them. If there is a bathing project to follow up after meals, it must be institutionalized and treatment must be put an end to. It seems that four dishes and one soup are really complicated in the big pattern of China officialdom.

Zhu Yuanzhang's anti-corruption is the fiercest, and drinking and whoring are forbidden. He also set up corrupt officials from the other side of the criminal law, such as peeling and filling grass. But the effect is not great, otherwise an honest official like Harry will not have a chance to show off his power. To tell the truth, it is unrealistic for you to let Americans eat four dishes and one soup instead of hamburgers. Similarly, it is not human nature to invite China officials to eat hamburgers. Human feelings are greater than laws, but they are greater than customs. This is the inherent way of life and thinking of China people, and it is the characteristic of China. Unless in Chairman Mao's time, everyone used food stamps and meat stamps, and there was no place to buy things with money, otherwise four dishes and one soup were just symbols of spiritual civilization.

The best way to reform officials is to reduce the number of officials. If there are fewer officials, there will be fewer corrupt officials, and it will be more convenient for the people to supervise. Otherwise, hundreds of violations every day will make the people uninterested. More importantly, it is necessary to rotate posts regularly, set up elected official positions, cut off the relationship between power and money, and cut off the power rent-seeking under the double regulations system. You said it was hard to do? Not necessarily. It depends on who leads. As long as it is announced that county-level heads are running for party posts, it will be half the battle; As long as the official property is announced regularly, the other half will succeed. Of course, this half plus the other half is not all. More importantly, how to nail the two halves together firmly. Only one can do this, called democracy and the rule of law.