Chinese official sacked, expelled from Communist Party after ex-wife’s social media attack

A senior official in southwest China has been sacked and expelled from the Communist Party for “serious discipline violations”, after his ex-wife caused a stir on social media for demanding a kindergarten teacher apologise to “Secretary Yan’s daughter”.

Yan Chunfeng, 50, was dismissed as deputy party secretary of Guangan in Sichuan after being placed under investigation in May, the provincial disciplinary authority said on Tuesday. He is accused of accepting bribes and taking advantage of his position to seek profits for family and friends, breaking political rules and not reporting his marriage status and assets.

The investigation came a week after his former wife, Li Xiangyang, demanded that a teacher apologise to their daughter in a chat room exchange that was posted on social network WeChat and widely circulated online.

A screenshot of the conversation shows Li telling the teacher, surnamed Chen: “You must immediately apologise to my daughter in front of all the teachers and children in this class. Otherwise, I will ask the kindergarten head to explain to me what you meant by the words you said to Secretary Yan’s daughter.”

The chat room is for teachers and parents from the Golden Apple Kindergarten in Chengdu, where Li’s daughter is enrolled.

The message from Li goes on to claim that the kindergarten had decided to fire Chen. The kindergarten teacher apparently did not reply.

Li was responding to Chen’s comment that she planned to isolate Li’s daughter or tell the other children to stay away from her during the period just before school ended every day.

“I’m really fed up,” Chen wrote in the chat room. There is no indication in the part of the exchange made public as to why the teacher would separate the children or what the problem was.