Propaganda official fired after jilted lover’s lengthy account

Yi Junqing, a senior Chinese official, has lost his job, state media said on Thursday, after a jilted mistress detailed their alleged affair in an online essay topping 100,000 written characters.

The fall of Yi Junqing, who had a rank equivalent to vice minister, comes as the ruling Communist Party’s new leaders have declared war on corruption and state media has exposed a raft of sex and other scandals.

Yi, who headed the party’s compilation and translation bureau and allegedly had an affair with a researcher, “has been removed from his post for ‘improper lifestyle’”, the Xinhua news agency said, citing unidentified authorities.

Unlike in other cases, Xinhua did not provide details of the impropriety.

The account by the alleged mistress Chang Yan could be seen on overseas websites but had been deleted from Chinese sites. An apology signed by her was posted instead on the domestic websites.

“In my spare time I put together a work of fiction,” it read.