Police detained a man in eastern China for using public occupations to name his pet dogs.
Insisting that he was merely poking fun, Ban, 31, named his two pet dogs “Chengguan,” which refers to “city management officials” in China, and “Xieguan,” which translates to “traffic warden.”
According to Sohu News, authorities learned of the pets’ names after the 31-year-old dog breeder shared them on social media, along with posts about Chengguan stealing shoes and picking fights with Xieguan.
Ban, who lives in Fuyang, Anhui province was placed under administrative detention for 10 days beginning on Monday for “provoking trouble.”
“I didn’t know the law,” Ban said, insisting that he only named them such for fun. “I didn’t know it was illegal.”
Ban’s story has since gone viral on Chinese social media, drawing mixed reactions from netizens.
“This looks like abuse of power to me.”
“I have a friend whose dog is called Obama.”
“It won’t matter if you name your dog Trump, you might even get a round of applause.”
“This is technically not illegal, but when he shared it to his friends, circumstances changed.”
“So they actually find this insulting? Well I think violent law enforcement and corruption insult society.”