Why are Chinese local officials ‘busier but emptier’?

Despite repeated directives to ease the burden on local officials and curb formalism, many of China’s cadres still find themselves trapped in a frustrating cycle of working harder yet achieving fewer tangible results, according to state-linked media. Symptoms of the phenomenon known as “busier but emptier” were outlined in a report published June 2 in Banyuetan, an influential biweekly magazine affiliated with state news agency Xinhua.