China’s Version of Weinergate

Some kinds of foolishness know no borders. 

Meet China’s version of Anthony Weiner.  Weiner, as everyone knows, is the married U.S. congressman (now resigned) who accidently sent lewd photos of himself to all his Twitter followers while attempting to direct tweet one particular female recipient.  Now, just this week, a government official in southern China has stepped in similar doo-doo. 

Mr. Xie, the married head of a local sanitation bureau, and his much younger mistress exchanged what they assumed to be private messages on Sina Weibo (China’s popular microblogging equivalent to Twitter) arranging the details of a hotel rendevous and reimbursement for her shopping expenses.  In fact, the conversations could be viewed by all 140 million Weibo users. 

After several thousand Weibo users caught on, Mr. Xie finally realized his error and abruptly cancelled his account.  His final message:  “Sorry.”  His young ladyfriend, on the other hand, has refused to close her account, saying it has sentimental value for her.