According to recent media reports, Li Shujian (李树建), chairman of the Henan Theater Association, said after a recent audience with Henan’s top leader, party secretary Lu Zhangong (卢展工), “I was beside myself with excitement, and my face was washed with tears.” Almost immediately, the phrase, “My face [was] washed with tears,” became an internet sensation in China, Chinese heaping ridicule on this anachronistic expression of fealty to a leader pledged (at least in name) to serve the people. This cartoon, posted by artist Li Jianing (李嘉宁) to his QQ blog, satirizes Li Shujian’s excessive pro-CCP emotion by contrasting it with real public need. At left, a man tries to wash his face but finds no water running in the tap. Li Shujian, at right, perches dramatically on his stage, a toilet, and intones: “Just think of the graces bestowed on us by our leaders, and wash your face with tears!”