Shanghai's nomination of millionaire basketball star Yao Ming for an award usually bestowed on proletariat heroes has sparked a debate across the mainland
The Model Worker award, established in 1950, a year after the People's Republic was founded, is meant to be given to grassroots workers who inspire loyalty and hard work in the masses.
The award has since lost its lustre as the mainland marches towards a market economy chanting the 'to get rich is glorious' mantra of late patriarch Deng Xiaoping .
But the central government has kept the honour alive to show that traditional socialist ideals are still respected.
Yao became one of the mainland's biggest sporting heroes after joining the Houston Rockets NBA team three years ago and millions of youngsters look up to him as a role model.
But many argue that Yao doesn't fit the image of a model worker - usually some unsung hero who toils in a remote steel plant.
'Yao Ming is too rich to be a model worker ... he earned 150 million yuan last year' said an article in the Southern Metropolis News.