Wristwatch for wearing which a Chinese official was jailed for 14 years (5 photos)

“Watch Brother” is what Chinese online vigilantes nicknamed a local official named Yang Datsai because he was fond of wearing luxury watches on his wrist that cost more than his official salary.





It seemed to the official that there were no signs of trouble



Yang Datsai was a simple official - in particular, the director of the Security Inspection Bureau of Shaanxi Province. He loved to show off expensive things, a luxurious lifestyle and an incredible love for luxury wristwatches.

And it was his love for watches that played a cruel joke on him.

When Datsai and other officials went to the site of a major traffic accident that killed 36 people, his photos went viral on Sina Weibo, China's most popular microblog.

After the tragedy was reported throughout the country's media, a photo of a plump Yang Dacai smiling while inspecting the scene of the accident in which 36 people died sparked public outrage and spawned hundreds of memes.





Datsai justified his smile at the scene as an attempt to cheer up the anxious rescuers.

Criticism of the official grew even stronger when people on the Internet discovered that the official arrived at the scene of the accident wearing an expensive Vacheron Constantin Fiftysix wristwatch worth $65,000, which he could not have afforded on his official salary.



Local Chinese bloggers later found other photographs of the official and his watch collection, which included Bulgari, Omega and Rolex models.

Yang defended himself by saying he bought the watch using "legal income" and reported his purchases to the Communist Party.



However, the government said that Yang Datsai was unable to prove the origin of the money with which he could have purchased his watch, so he was first fired for “serious breach of discipline”, and then (a short time later) arrested on suspicion of corruption and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment.

In recent years, the number of Chinese “netizens” searching for corrupt officials based on their photographs has increased exponentially. These people spend their days looking for clothes and accessories worn by officials and comparing their cost with the official salaries of these same officials.

Such public pressure has become so strong that China has officially announced rules restricting officials from purchasing expensive items “above certain standards.”