A Central China university official has been punished for accepting money as a gift at his son's wedding banquet, a practice frowned upon under the country's anti-corruption campaign.

Professor Xiao Hong, former Party secretary at Wuhan University School of Online Education, was given a warning and ordered to return the 25,000 yuan ($4,000) stuffed in hongbao - red envelopes traditionally used by wedding guests for giving cash to newlyweds - at the event on May 1, 2013, the Ministry of Education said on Sunday.

Xiao had followed requirements by reporting the wedding plans to discipline inspection authorities, which reiterated frugality rules. However, Xiao still invited a sufficient number of guests to fill as many as 38 tables, seven of which seated his colleagues and friends for a banquet deemed excessively large and high-profile, according to a ministry statement.