dubbed watch-wearing brother by his critics, mr. yang went on the offensive. in a highly unusual move for a chinese public official, he turned to the internet to address is critics directly. writing on his account on sina corp.'s weibo microblogging service, he said he was sorry for his smile at the scene of the accident, explaining that he was having a hard time understanding the local dialect and wanted to put nervous comrades at ease. on the watches, he assured his critics that he purchased the watches 'using my own legal income.'