A CHINESE OFFICIAL was removed from his post today after a picture of him being given a piggyback sparked an online uproar, state media reported.

The image, published on the Twitter-like Sina Weibo, showed the local official being carried on a villager’s back while visiting flood victims in Zhejiang province.

A post published with the image said the official, surnamed Wang, was being carried because he was wearing a pair of high-end shoes, according to China’s state-run news agency Xinhua.

Wang worked for Sanqishi Township government in the city of Yuyao, which is in Zhejiang province, Xinhua said.

The local government said Wang had been removed from his post as director of the township’s construction office, Xinhua reported.

Wang, who was wearing shoes made of cloth, was set to take them off and walk barefoot over a small pond to reach a victim’s house, the Sanqishi Township government told Xinhua.

However a villager “lifted Wang on his back despite Wang insisting on walking barefoot”, Xinhua reported.

The villager gave Wang another piggyback ride as they left the house, the agency said.

Earlier this month, Typhoon Fitow barrelled into Zhejiang, leaving 10 people dead and affecting around seven million people in the province, with houses torn down and grain flooded.

Parts of Zhejiang, which neighbours the commercial hub Shanghai, saw nearly 29 centimetres of rain over 17 hours during the storm, the official China News Service said.

Tens of thousands of people in Yuyao were affected.

- © AFP 2013.

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