BEIJING, May 8  -- Following the cutback of unessential positions at culture-themed social groups, the Ministry of Culture (MOC) has vowed to further slash part-time positions and will make them voluntary.

The ministry issued a statement on Friday following an inspection that discovered that 87 retired MOC high-level officials were holding 138 positions at various ministry social groups, ranging from research institutes, libraries to performance troupes. One official held five jobs.

After this revelation, 35 officials were relieved of their unnecessary roles and 52 were each assigned one position each.

The ministry's action is part of wider efforts to regulate the work of officials at enterprises and other establishments.

"Retired MOC officials must go through strict approval and registration procedures if they want to take up part-time positions in MOC-supervised social groups. Each individual must hold no more than one position and will not be paid for this role," the statement said.

The ministry called for a detailed investigation into officials that accepted payment for these roles, and for an official list to be made public.

The inspection also confirmed that state-level art and literature award ceremonies had been reduced to 15 from 41. A ministry circular released last month ordered that unnecessary competitions should be scrapped and those that remain should be more critically judged.