Cost of heavy drinking

One Chinese official is dead and another is in a coma after bouts of excessive drinking, state media said in a report highlighting the dangers of a drinking culture.

Jin Guoqing, a district deputy director of water resources in Wuhan, fell unconscious at an official banquet last week and died on the way to the hospital, the China Daily said.

Lu Yanpeng, a district chief in Guangdong, fell into a coma after drinking heavily while having dinner with a local Communist Party chief.

Professor Li Changyan of Peking University said government officials spend about 500 billion yuan ($73 billion) in public funds each year on official banquets.