中国官场备忘录 湿鞋也得自己走

It isn't the easiest time to be a low-level Chinese official. Gone are the days of sweet gifts from ardent well-wishers. Real-estate ambitions have to be curbed. Belts must be tightened.

中国低级别官员的好日子已经一去不复返了：不会再有人来送礼，不能再奢望有多套房产，还得勒紧裤腰带过日子。

Now, it seems, they have to get their feet wet like the rest of us.

现在，他们似乎必须跟其他人一样，不能有丝毫的特权。

An official in flood-hit Jiangxi province was relieved of his post after a picture showed him accepting a piggyback ride, according to the official Xinhua news agency on Monday. The reason, it seems, was that the official was sporting what looked like a pretty swell pair of leather shoes.

根据官方媒体新华社周一的一则报道，江西省的一名官员被免职，因有照片显示他被人背着探视洪涝灾区。让人背的原因似乎是这名官员怕弄湿他那双漂亮的皮鞋。

Images of the official dangling from the neck of another man quickly made their way online, where they drew protests. The photo was apparently taken during a search for children who went missing during the flood, which has stricken part of Jiangxi and Hunan provinces and dumped heavy rain in the surrounding area.

这张官员被人背着探视灾区的照片很快在网上流传开来，遭到很大非议。这张照片显然是在搜寻洪灾中失踪儿童时拍摄的。这次洪灾严重冲击了江西、湖南部分地区，周边地区也有很大降雨量。

Chinese media identified the man as Wang Junhua, the vice director of an unspecified government office in the city of Guixi. He could not be reached and phone calls to the Guixi government offices rang unanswered.

中国媒体确认这名官员名叫王军华，是贵溪市政府办公室副主任。记者未能联系到他置评，打到贵溪市政府办公室的电话也无人接听。

In a post on its official Weibo account ( in Chinese), the Jiangxi provincial press office identified the ride-giver as Ding Xianbao, a clerk in Mr. Wang's office.

江西省政府新闻办在官方微博中称，背王军华的人叫丁先保，是王军华办公室的科员。

It marked the second time in nine months that a Chinese official lost his job over a piggyback ride. In October, an official in Zhejiang province was canned after a villager gave him a ride to spare his footwear.

这是九个月中第二起中国官员因被人背着蹚水而被免职的事件。去年10月，浙江省一名官员就因怕弄湿鞋被人背着视察灾情而遭免职。