Room-opening bureau chief

开房局长 (kāifáng júzhǎng): “room-opening” bureau chief

This is the nickname given to Xie Zhiqiang (谢志强) who the Wall Street Journal calls “China’s Anthony Weiner.”

Xie became infamous on the Internet after arranging a rendezvous with his mistress on his Sina Weibo account, apparently unaware that the conversation was visible to the public. A portion of their conversation is as follows (as translated by the Wall Street Journal):

Woman: What time do you want meet me?

Xie: How about this afternoon?

Woman: Where?

Xie: What about the Huangting [Hotel]?

Woman: That works.

Xie: I’ll give you the room key. You go first and relax, I’ll come over shortly after, OK?

Woman: How will you give me the key? I won’t go to the reception desk.

Xie: I’ll get it first and send it to you.

In Mandarin, the phrase “room-opening” (开房 kāifáng) sounds nearly the same in Chinese as “generous” (开放 kāifàng), so the epithet “room-opening bureau chief” sounds similar to “generous bureau chief.”

Sign above the hotel room door reads "microblog date." The man says, "Let's open the door." After noticing the peering eyes, he says, "Oh no! You saw what I wrote?"

Sign reads “Clean Government For the People” and the man (note the traditional official's cap that marks him as a government official) is saying, “Babe, let's go to the hotel and get a room.”

Screenshot of the offending microblog post.