The first Chinese official to lose his job as a result of the Ya’an Earthquake is Yang Chengyi, 47, of Qingyuan township. Did he embezzle aid? Wear a gold watch? Smile while inspecting an accident site when he should have frowned?
If only.
According to SCMP, Yang was fired after failing to meet with disciplinary inspectors because he was busy working in the field.
Internet users applauded Yang’s down-to-earth working style, saying that officials like him should be promoted, not sacked.
Many wryly noted that doing nothing had become the common practice for party cadres.
Yang refused to comment on his own removal, saying he was too busy participating in relief efforts to discuss the move.
“I just want to do my best for the relief effort, there are tons of things to do,” he said, his voice cracking. “I don’t want to defend myself. I just want to do my best to help the villagers.”
Lily Kuo recently wrote for Quartz about how being a Chinese official is one of the worst jobs in the world. On top of all the typical reasons (including those that are tongue-in-cheek), add “surrounded by incompetence” to the list.
There are plenty of reasons to punish officials, but “working overtime” shouldn’t be one of them. Or failing to attend a meeting… meetings, by the way, which are the bane of humanity. Look for Yang to get rehired soon, possibly by an office a little smarter than the one that just relieved him.
Outpouring of sympathy online for sacked official in quake zone (SCMP)
Thus is the problem with Chinese and their 500000000 years of glory. Anyone that does good…a general, an official, a common person…gets executed or banished because of a higher up or emperor that is pissed it’ll make him look bad and that people will respect the do gooder…
That don’t make no damn sense! At least he’ll have thousands of reference letters to help him get a job somewhere else. (And, yes, the Chinese bureaucrats just love their pointless waste of time meetings. It’s maddening!)