Is age just a number? Chinese official’s picture sparks national guessing game
- Web users speculate about whether grizzled cadre’s workload has taken its toll as they question whether he really is only 38
- Town official blames long hours and irregular workload for making his hair go prematurely grey
According to his biography he is yet to reach his 40th birthday, but the official photo of a Chinese official from a remote part of the southwest has generated intense online discussion due to the apparent discrepancy between his appearance and his official age.
The short biography and a recent photo of Li Zhongkai posted online in October along with a number of other officials in Yunnan who had been promoted has gone viral after many internet users argued that he looked to be in his fifties or sixties.
However, that biography states he was born in August 1980, which would mean he celebrated his 38th birthday earlier this year.
Some speculated that he had faked his age to advance his career but others more charitably suggested that the strains of the job had caused him to age prematurely.
Li, the party head in Wanbi town, told state-owned news portal Thepaper.cn on Friday: “I totally didn’t see it coming. [I am] really surprised. My hair has turned grey for a while.”
Some people believe the practice of officials lying about their age to advance their careers is commonplace in some rural areas, and some cadres caught doing so have been dismissed from their posts.