State Administration of Work Safety Vice Director Wang Dexue, possibly seeking a promotion, appeared to cry while inspecting a bridge collapse in Henan earlier this week, and let’s just say no one bought it. Netizens took to calling him “New Watch Brother,” a term that has since been censored on Sina Weibo.
All this leads us to China Digital Times’s recent dispatch from the Ministry of Truth, i.e. the Central Propaganda Department, which apparently doesn’t want anyone to acknowledge Wang’s misguided gambit:
With regards to State Administration of Work Safety Vice Director Wang Dexue crying during his inspection of the collapse of the Lianluo Highway Yichang Bridge, do not sensationalize the story.
You know how Wang maybe could have earned praise though? Sorting out the death toll:
The official list of victims who died in a bridge collapse in Henan province is drawing criticism after media reported that the death toll should have been 11, not 10 as given by authorities.
According to a CCTV news report on Tuesday, the list had omitted the death of Shi Yanfei, the driver of a cargo truck that was carrying illegal fireworks when it exploded, leading to the collapse of an elevated highway in Sanmenxia that took several vehicles along with it.
And doing something to ensure bridges don’t collapse in the future. You know, actual work.
Ministry of Truth: Wang Dexue’s Tears (China Digital Times)
Still to be proven, although perhaps not in our lifetime, that perhaps the bridge collapse occurred first, then the fireworks exploded after the truck hit the ground or while in free-fall. Shoddy elevated highway construction finally gives in and the blame in placed on an illegal shipment of fireworks. How fitting. Unfortunately, innocent people have to pay with their lives.