In 2014, a Beijing official explained to the Beijing News how deputies are addressed. “Nobody says Deputy Director X. Deputy leaders are mostly called by surname plus a short form of the title.” The word fu, deputy, is left out.
A professor warned about one short form, the surname plus fu. For deputies named Zu or Yue, it gives Zu fu or Yue fu, which sound like the words for grandfather and father-in-law.