Officials in China released a photo of four men visiting a 103-year old woman. The poorly-Photoshopped image, however, has been the subject of ridicule, even drawing criticism from China’s official news agency, Xinhua.

The image included the caption “love and consideration for the elderly is a cherished Chinese tradition. They should feel the warmth of the party and the government.” It shows four Chinese officials visiting the 103-year old woman in the Anhui province.

The problem with the photo, however, is that the four men are approximately twice the size of the woman, and man on the right disappears completely where the elderly lady was superimposed into the image.

A government statement apologized for the the photo, stating that the balcony on which the woman sat was too small to capture the entire scene. They photographed the men and the lady separately and attempted to combine them into one image. Another image was released showing one official and the lady in an image that was not edited this way. The person responsible for editing the image has been instructed to write a “self-criticism report.”

Sources

• Chinese officials release badly faked photo (UPI: October 31, 2013)
• Chinese Communists red-faced on propaganda Photoshop failure (October 31, 2013)