Society
Officials getting chic in New Year greetings
By Zuo Likun (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-02-05 16:42
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Internet-savvy officials have been expressing their New Year messages on People.com.cn Thursday, heralding China in the modern world, the Beijing Times reported.
Wang Yang, Party Secretary of south China's Guangdong province, blessed netizens with "mouse in hand, world on mind" and welcomed "neckwear" for suggestions, an Internet jargon and homonym for Twitter style micro-blogging, as well as "brick wielding" to government shortcomings, another cant for online criticism or even bad-mouthing.
Su Rong, top Party official in Jiangxi province, employed an oft-cited punning to advocate more support for his jurisdiction in east China.
Shanghai mayor Han Zheng spoke out frankly that he was a typical Internet "diver", a parlance for someone who browses forums, but never contributes. He said the netizens offered a lot of constructive proposals.
So far, twenty-four provincial and regional top leaders have posted their greetings at the website, the newspaper said.
The Internet has been used as a handy platform for communication between government officials and the public recently, analysts say. Its most prominent user should be none other than Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao whose frequent online discussions with netizens have been widely publicized on front pages of mainstream media.
