The photo on a local government website purportedly showed three officials inspecting a newly-completed road construction project in Huili in Sichuan province, in China?s south west. However, it was clear to eagle-eyed readers that the three officials were merely superimposed against a backdrop of a generic road. The photo attracted a barrage of comments ? some amused, others irate – to the Huili local government?s public relations department.
The department immediately withdrew the image. It explained that the three men did visit the road construction project but that the photographer was unhappy with his pictures so tried to ?stitch two together?. To complicate matters, a ?government employee posted the edited picture on-line out of error,? a Huili official told the State-run Xinhua news agency.
To prove its sincerity, the Huili local government has since posted an original image on the Chinese Weibo social media site.
The explanation came too late to avoid a torrent of mockery around chatrooms and social media websites. Within hours there were on-line parodies showing the officials standing on the moon, surrounded by dinosaurs and joined on their inspection tour by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il!
Sources: The Age, The Guardian (UK), The Atlantic Wire