From the Washington Post Blog, by Hayley Tsukayama:
Chinese politician Xie Zhiqiang has found himself in hot water after using Sina’s Weibo, a microblogging site similar to Twitter, to set up a liaison with a woman believed to be his mistress.
Apparently, Xie — the married head of the Liyang City Sanitation Bureau — did not realize that the messages sent on Weibo were public, but thought it was a private messaging service, the Wall Street Journal reported.
When asked about the messages, Xie was reportedly taken aback, according to the Journal, citing a Chinese news source.
“How did you see them? They’re not visible, right?” Xie said to a reporter from China’s Modern Express, “You saw all the Weibos we sent to each other? It can’t be.”
The following translations are from penn-olson.com:
Mistress: Dear Pangpang (a nickname), I will be at Muhu tomorrow, give me a call.
Xie: How will you give me the hotel room card, I will not take it from reception by myself.
Xie: Get me the hotel room card. Take a break in the hotel and I will be right over, ok?
Xie: Honey, we should not make phone calls or SMS’s. This is Meet on Weibo, I miss you so much, let’s decide on Weibo where to go, ok? [This is perhaps our favorite message!]
Xie: Did you buy anything in Shanghai? I will take care of the reimbursing.
Xie: No wonder Yang leaves his beautiful wife at home, if I were him, I couldn’t get enough of her.
Chinese netizens made the following satirical song and video for this event, entitled “The Bureau Chief’s Anger.”
