Before Zhang Gaoli was engulfed in accusations that he had sexually assaulted a tennis champion, he seemed to embody the qualities that the Chinese Communist Party prizes in officials: austere, disciplined, and impeccably loyal to the leader of the day.
在陷入网球冠军选手的性侵指控困境之前,张高丽似乎正是中国共产党所推崇的官员品质的象征:朴素,严肃,对党的在任领导人无比忠诚。
He had climbed steadily from running an oil refinery to a succession of leadership posts along China’s fast-growing coast, avoiding the scandals and controversy that felled other, flashily ambitious politicians. He became known, if for anything, for his monotone impersonality. On entering China’s top leadership, he invited people to search for anything amiss in his behavior.
“Stern, low-key, taciturn,” summed up one of the few profiles of him in the Chinese media. His interests, Xinhua news agency said, included books, chess and tennis.
Now the allegation from Peng Shuai, the professional tennis player, has cast Mr. Zhang’s private life under a blaze of international attention, making him a symbol of a political system that prizes secrecy and control over open accountability. The allegation raises questions about how far Chinese officials carry their declared ideals of clean-living integrity into their heavily guarded homes.
而今,职业网球选手彭帅的指控将张高丽的私生活置于国际关注之下,让他成了一个重视保密和控制多于公开问责的政治体制的象征。她的指控引发了人们的质疑,即在戒备森严的家中,中国官员到底将他们宣称的廉洁品质贯彻了几分。