A Lushan county official found himself at the center of controversy on April 23 after sleuthing netizens noticed in online photos that he had taken off his luxury watch while leaders from the central government visited the quake-shaken area in Sichuan Province.

A photo taken of Fan Jiyue, party leader of Lushan county, while accompanying Premier Li Keqiang overseeing quake-relief work on April 21, revealed visible tan lines on Fan's left wrist. Web users assumed that Fan had secretly taken off his expensive watch before he met with the Premier.

This is not the first time a luxury watch has landed a Chinese official in trouble. Yang Dacai, a former work safety official in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, was ultimately expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012 after online photos of Yang wearing an array of expensive watches triggered official investigations into his personal finances.