Meme Watch: Chinese Government’s Photoshop Disaster, ‘The Three Levitating Government Officials’

Remember when the Chinese government tried to pass off footage from Top Gun as a recording of their air force training drills?  Some officials didn’t learn a lesson from all the laughter that ensued from that gaffe, because government officials in Huili County (Sichuan Province) posted a very clearly photoshopped picture on their website.  That picture is below; the officials claimed it showed three county leaders inspecting a newly-paved road.
Last Sunday an internet commenter linked to the picture at Tianya Club and from there it went viral on Sina Weibo.  Huili County officials even signed up for a Sina Weibo account to post the two undoctored photos and apologize for posting the fake, but it was too late.  Several photoshops of “The Three Levitating Government Officials” had already appeared, and we’ve gathered some of our favorites (and several new photoshops we made) after the jump.
[Sources: EastSouthWestNorth, Geekosystem, TheDailyWhat, WebProNews, ChinaInternetWatch]

Above is the photoshop disaster which started it all, and below are the undoctored originals:

Here’s a perfectly normal day.

Yep. Just a regular day.

Nothing to see here.

Now here’s an exciting construction plan meeting.

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