陝西安監局長微博談手錶 網民不買賬

Chinese officials faced with public controversies in the era of social media have tended to choose one of two strategies: 1) say nothing; or 2) have the local government issue a comically murky statement on their behalf that essentially says nothing.

在社交媒體時代，身陷輿論漩渦的中國官員往往選擇這樣兩條策略中的一條：一、什麼都不說；二、讓當地政府代表他們發表一條語焉不詳讓人覺得滑稽的聲明，實際上還是什麼都沒有說。

With the clock possibly ticking down on his career, one beleaguered bureaucrat in the northwestern province of Shaanxi - Provincial Work Safety Administration head Yang Dacai decided on Wednesday to break new ground.

在從政生涯可能時日無多的時候，陝西省引發爭議的安全生產監督管理局局長楊達才週三決定打破成規。

Rather than fall silent, Mr. Yang shocked observers by engaging with his critics in a live chat.

楊達纔沒有選擇沉默，相反，他通過在線訪談和批評者交流，這讓觀察人士頗感意外。

The official's thinking in opting for such a rare move might be explained by his having recently achieved the equally rare feat of being given not one, but two, Internet nicknames in the space of a few days.

這位官員選擇這樣一種罕見舉動的原因，可能是他最近取得了同樣罕見的“成績”：才幾天的時間，網民就給他取了兩個綽號。

Internet users gifted Mr. Yang with the first of those nicknames 'the smiling official' on Monday, after a photographer snapped a shot of the well-fed leader cracking a smile while standing at the site of a fiery collision between a bus and a tanker truck that killed 36 on Sunday.

網民週一送給楊達才第一個綽號：“微笑帝”。這是因爲週日發生一輛大巴和一輛罐車相撞、造成36人死亡的慘烈事故之後，這位大腹便便的領導人站在現場時被攝影記者拍到面露笑容。

The second, 'Watch-Wearing Brother,' emerged after Internet users trying to identify Mr. Yang from the crash site photo a process known in China the 'human flesh search' discovered, not only his identity, but also a trove of new images showing him wearing at least five different luxury watches.

第二個綽號是“戴錶哥”。網民在辨認車禍現場照片中的楊達才的身份（這在中國叫“人肉搜索”）時，不僅認出了他是誰，還找到一大堆新的圖片，顯示他至少曾戴過五隻不同的豪華手錶。（中文“戴錶”與“代表”讀音相同，考慮到中國領導人喜歡戴着價格不菲的名錶來代表人民羣衆，這個同音相當意味深長。）

(The phrase 'wearing a watch' in Chinese sounds similar to the word 'representative,' a homophone rich with meaning considering the penchant among China's leaders for doing the work of representing the masses while sporting expensive time pieces.)

週三夜間在新浪微博做訪談期間，網友提交問題約6,000個，楊達纔回答了其中的12個問題，對兩類爭議都做出了迴應。

Mr. Yang addressed both controversies while answering 12 out of roughly 6,000 questions submitted during his live chat late Wednesday night on Sina Corp.'s Weibo microblogging service.

他先回應了微笑問題。楊達才首先對受害者家屬表示“誠摯道歉”，然後解釋說，當時他聽不懂當地幹部的口音，想讓他們放鬆些。他寫道：現場氣氛其實很壓抑，有些基層同志向我介紹情況的時候，都顯得特別緊張，有的同志口音比較重，有些話我聽不太清楚。我讓他們放鬆些，可能一不留神，神情上有些放鬆。現在回想起來，我也很內疚。

First tackling the issue of his smile, the official began by offering 'sincere apologies' to the victims' family members. He then went on to explain that he had been having trouble understanding the accents of local cadres and was trying to get them to relax. 'Everyone was wound up. Some comrades' accents were very strong, and some of what they were saying I couldn't quite get,' he wrote. 'I was trying to get them to relax a little, so maybe, in an unguarded moment, I got a little too relaxed myself. When I think about it now, I'm filled with regret.'

在手錶問題上，楊達才承認在過去10多年用自己的合法收入購買過五塊手錶，並表示已經就此向紀檢部門做了彙報。然後他進一步詳細介紹了自己最貴的一塊手錶（一隻價值3.5萬元的萬寶龍(Montblanc)），並透露其他手錶大都在2萬元左右。

On the watches, Mr. Yang acknowledged buying five at different times over a period of 10 years 'using my own legal income' and said he'd already reported the purchases to disciplinary authorities. He then went a step further, offering details on his most expensive watch a Montblanc worth 35,000 yuan ($5,500) and revealing that most of the rest had cost around 20,000 yuan.

爲防有人說他找托兒問問題，楊達才還回答（算是回答吧）了知名公民記者張世和的提問。又稱“老虎廟”的張世和希望楊達才解釋中國人爲什麼這麼容易對共產黨官員產生質疑。

And lest anyone accuse him planting questions, Mr. Yang also even chose to respond sort of - to a query from well-known citizen journalist Zhang Shihe, also known as Tiger Temple, who challenged him to explain why Chinese people seemed so quick to doubt Communist Party officials.

楊達才說：我想，作爲公務人員，被網友這樣監督是合理的正常的。之所以這次被網友這樣關注，首先還是因爲我自身有不謹慎的地方。

'The reason Internet users paid attention to me in this way is first and foremost because I was imprudent in some areas,' he said. For Internet users to monitor officials in such a way was 'reasonable and normal,' he added.

那麼對於這種透明與互動的初步嘗試，微博網友們是怎麼看的呢？

So what did social media users make of this tentative stab at transparency and engagement?

的確有些人對此感到印象深刻。一名微博用戶在回覆楊達才關於萬寶龍手錶的情況介紹時說，我有些感動，你是個實誠人。另一位用戶說，楊局長的危機管理能力不錯。

Some, to be sure, were impressed. 'I'm a kind of a little bit moved. You're honest,' wrote one Sina Weibo user in response to the official's revelation about his Montblanc. 'Director Yang's crisis management skills are not bad,' observed another.

但大多數人似乎還是不信。

Most, however, seemed unconvinced.

在官員工資普遍不高的中國，似乎很少有人相信楊達才的手錶真像他所說的那樣，是他自己掏錢買的。一位懷疑派寫道：大家等着楊局長公佈10多年來合法收入吧！另一位用戶開玩笑說：合法收入買了表，其他的全用非法收入買！

In a country where officials typically make modest salaries, few seemed to believe Mr. Yang's claim to have paid for his watches using his own money. 'Everyone's waiting for director Yang to reveal how much he makes legally in 10 years,' one skeptic wrote. 'If he used his legal income to buy watches, then he had to use illegal income to buy everything else,' quipped a second.

網上對楊達才所說內容的懷疑在週四進一步發酵。從當天網民新上傳的圖片來看，楊達才除了已經承認的那些，似乎還戴過另外四五塊手錶。“中國實時報”(China Real Time)欄目無法驗證這些照片的真實性。

Doubts about Mr. Yang's story swelled further on Thursday, when Internet users posted new images that appeared to show him wearing as many as four or five additional watches beyond those he'd admitted to buying, though China Real Time could not verify the authenticity of those photos.

音樂人趙天明借用楊達才的話說，我們一不留神發現你戴了九塊表。

'In an unguarded moment, we caught you wearing nine watches,' musician Zhao Tianming wrote on Weibo, turning Mr. Yang's words against him and slapping on a laughing emoticon for good measure.

到週四晚間，楊達才尚未利用微博回答網民的最新一輪指控。

By late Thursday evening, the official had yet to take to Weibo to answer the latest round of accusations.

在批評者不僅沒有沉默，反倒越嚷越兇的時候，楊達纔可能又採取了什麼都不說的老辦法。