Slip

侧滑: (cè huá) slipped

On the morning of August 24, 2012, an overland section of the Yangmingtan Bridge collapsed in Harbin, killing three and injuring five others.

After the accident, the government convened a press conference in which the Secretary of the Harbin City Government stated that a section of the road had "slipped" [zh]. Netizens were critical of the government calling it a section of "road" (instead of a section of "bridge") and calling it a "slip" (instead of a "collapse”).

The government initially placed the blame on overloaded vehicles (a common scapegoat in a string of similar accidents across China) and then launched a formal investigation. The government denied initial reports that the contractors could not be found.

The text on the back of the scroll flowing over the accident wreckage (the part being ignored by the government official) reads, "Irrefutable objective facts."

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