Millions of local residents in East China's Jiangxi province have received a special New Year's gift from local officials in the past few days - calls with a recorded message to wish them a happy new year.

Opinions are divided on the new practice, with some saying the calls create closer relationships between the public and officials, while others say the calls are a waste of taxpayers' money.

A resident of Donghu district of Nanchang, provincial capital of Jiangxi, who only gave his surname as Zhang, said he received a recorded phone call from Guo Yi, director of the Donghu district, and Zou Chuanjian, Party secretary of the district, on Monday afternoon, China News Service reported.

The recorded phone call, which lasted three minutes and was accompanied by jubilant music, included the local government's achievements in the past year, their plans for next year and wishes of good health and good fortune.

"Upon receiving the call, I first thought it was a sales call when I realized it was a recorded voice," Zhang was quoted as saying. "But I was really happy when I realized it was the voice of officials that I have only seen on TV."

Donghu district is not alone in introducing a New Year's telephone greeting. The report quoted an unnamed spokesperson of the Jiangxi branch of China Telecom as saying that government leaders of dozens of districts, counties and cities in the province had recorded their New Year wishes before the Spring Festival.

During the festival, telecom companies will make calls to local residents to offer the wishes from local officials. In total, millions of calls will be made, the report said.

Guo Yi, director of Donghu district government who joined the new practice, said the move is designed to "get closer to the people".

"Usually, local governments send out New Year's wishes through TV, newspaper or mobile phone text messages," Guo was quoted as saying.

"It's much better to make greeting calls to residents' homes, just as friends would do," he said.

Good relations with the public helps Party committees win more support from the people and for the policies and decisions of local governments, Guo said.

Also, it costs "just a little money" compared to advertisements in other media, Guo said, adding a call costs about 0.1 yuan (1.5 cent).

However, while some people said they were happy to receive such phone greetings, criticism has also surfaced on media and Internet forums.

A commentary published in the Beijing News said the recorded phone call was just a show to advertise the governor's achievements rather than to deliver a sincere New Year's wish.

"It's not different from doing it through TVs and newspapers. All are one-way communications," the commentary said.

"Officials are still the ones who do the talking and the public can just listen," it said.

The commentary also questioned spending on the new practice, as one call costs 0.1 yuan but millions of such calls could add up to hundreds of thousands of yuan.

A blogger named Jiangxi Yushi also wrote in his blog that Jiangxi has many poor counties where residents still struggle to survive.

At the same time, the governors "spent taxpayers' money on their own image advertisement."

The commentary on the Beijing News also suggested donating cash as New Year's gifts to the poor could be a better way to use the money.