The authorities in Fengrun district of Tangshan, North China's Hebei province, issued instructions that officials would have to work on all the weekends in July to participate in the district's one-month cleanup of the urban environment. This requirement was later canceled, however.

This is the third instance since May of authorities in Hebei province issuing instructions for officials to work on weekends. Each time the instructions have been quickly canceled.

Weekends off work are a legal right protected by the Labor Law and the Civil Servant Law, and cannot be canceled at will.

That local authorities have arbitrarily decided to make civil servants work over the weekends violates these laws and reflects that some leading local officials consider their power to be above the law.

However, it also shows the inefficient working style of some local governments and their lack of administrative capabilities. Even if local civil servants work over the weekends, the cleanup campaign the local authority launched can only make short-term achievements, which will hardly solve the fundamental problem, because it requires better governance to rectify.