Organizers of the National People's Congress (NPC) have added a new feature this year's event to expose lawmakers who will violate Chinese President Xi Jinping's guidelines for official conduct, including smoking and drinking alcohol.

The organizers have installed big bright red boxes, seen by delegates who are checking into the hotels, for the two-week annual sessions of China's national legislature. Delegates are encouraged to write and drop reports and complaints into the boxes, against any legislator and policy advisers who they will catch to be committing a breach in conduct.

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Only the inspectors of NPC have the keys that can open the boxes.

Among the actions that the organizers ask the delegates to refrain from are the holding of luxurious banquets where liquors are served, and the excessive use of lighting in hotel conference rooms.

This is the first time such "opinion boxes" have been set up. This is also the first time that the actions of the participants in the National People's Congress are strictly being watched.

The said developments are in line with Xi's serious campaign against corruption and extravagance.

Due to these policies, the Chinese President had previously earned the ire of a former member of the Politburo Standing Committee, some high ranking military generals, as well as hundreds of ordinary government officials.

Premier Li Keqiang is one with Xi on this drive. In his address yesterday at the opening of the NPC, he vowed to "eradicate the breeding grounds for corruption."

The high level of discipline during the sessions and the strong calls for austerity have influenced some of the delegates early on.

Wang Ming, a professor at Tsinghua University and a member of the NPC advisory body, says the guidelines being implemented in the assembly have made him and his fellow delegates decide to stop their common practice of going out to restaurants for dinner.

He shares, nowadays, "we just take stroll" outside the area as soon as they finish their supper inside the hotel. But the biggest change in behavior that a member of the advisory body observed at the NPC is that no one dares to puff cigarettes in any of the official venues.

"No delegates smoke in public now," reports advisory body member Wu Jiang, who is also the director of China National Peking Opera Company.

Smoking used to be a common sight in the NPC sessions in the past years. Wu also gladly notes that he has not seen anybody snoozing away during the meetings.

Chinese President Xi Jinping drew his eight-point austerity code for official conduct when he assumed his post in November two years ago.

During the last two legislative meetings, expensive dinners and elaborate floral arrangements were prohibited. Some participants were requested to join in car-pools and share hotel rooms.

For his part, Primier Li Keqiang also vows to fight bureaucratic extravagance. He says government officials "who are lazy and lacking in action" should be exposed and penalized.

Premier Li sums up his thoughts by saying, "The ultimate truth is the simplest - those with power must not be capricious."

TagsNPC, Cigarettes, alcohol, extravagance