The police in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region apologized to the public after a policeman labeled a netizen "an idiot" last week.

Pang Chunyao, from Yulin city's traffic police bureau, insulted the netizen when the netizen inquired about traffic rules through his micro blog on Saturday.

The incident immediately drew public attention, with bloggers criticizing the policeman's choice of words.

The police bureau announced on Monday that Pang had been punished and the bureau was sorry for the incident.