CHINA:Elaborate packaging is literally part and parcel of the culture of celebration in many countries, but rising wealth in China has led to some spectacular excesses, including gold watches worth thousands of euros hidden inside boxes of mooncakes, writes Clifford Coonanin Shanghai.
On a more mundane level, plastic bags are used for even the smallest purchase and luggage is routinely shrink-wrapped at airports. During the spring festival last month, which marked the beginning of the Year of the Pig, millions of gilded pigs wrapped in spectacularly shiny packaging were given out by individuals and businesses.
Now a deputy at the National People's Congress, the country's annual parliament, says that over-glitzy packing is leading to the chopping down of millions of trees every year, wasting already scarce resources.
"Paper, rubber, glass and steel, which are all important materials for industrial production and daily life, have been lavishly consumed by the packing industry," delegate Song Xiaohua told the congress. "China produces about 1.2 billion shirts a year, and 800 million are packed by paper boxes, which consume roughly 240,000 tons of paper and need to fell 1.68 million trees with a diameter of 10cm," he said.
"Much of this is not bio-degradable. Packaging should be recyclable and do no harm to the environment and people's health."
Much international attention has focused on waste from Ireland and other Western countries being shipped to China for recycling, often causing terrible environmental damage. However increasingly there is debate about how much rubbish China's burgeoning economy is generating.
Mr Song said wrapping was also often used to mask corrupt gifts during the big holidays of Chinese new year and the autumn festival when business people often gave each other incredibly expensive gifts as a form of bribery.
Boxes of mooncakes, an autumn festival mainstay, often come with fine wines or watches. The government has previously said more needs to be done to control how much of the gift-giving is corruption.