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Mark Zuckerberg addresses Chinese university in Mandarin | |
(about 11 hours later) | |
Mark Zuckerberg impressed audiences in Tsinghua University, Beijing, on Wednesday by talking and answering questions in Mandarin, which the entrepreneur has been learning for the past four years. | Mark Zuckerberg impressed audiences in Tsinghua University, Beijing, on Wednesday by talking and answering questions in Mandarin, which the entrepreneur has been learning for the past four years. |
Zuckerberg enjoys immense popularity in China, despite the inability of the country’s internet users to access Facebook. The country is in the middle of an entrepreneurship boom – home-grown internet giants like Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu have convinced a generation of young professionals that passion, focus and risk-taking can yield massive rewards. | Zuckerberg enjoys immense popularity in China, despite the inability of the country’s internet users to access Facebook. The country is in the middle of an entrepreneurship boom – home-grown internet giants like Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu have convinced a generation of young professionals that passion, focus and risk-taking can yield massive rewards. |
Silicon Valley-style entrepreneurship is relatively new to China, historically speaking, and many Chinese citizens regard Zuckerberg as its paragon. | Silicon Valley-style entrepreneurship is relatively new to China, historically speaking, and many Chinese citizens regard Zuckerberg as its paragon. |
While Zuckerberg’s Mandarin was far from fluent, his performance during the 30-minute session was coherent and, at times, charmingly idiomatic – at the talk’s start, he called his Mandarin level “really terrible”, to laughter and applause. | While Zuckerberg’s Mandarin was far from fluent, his performance during the 30-minute session was coherent and, at times, charmingly idiomatic – at the talk’s start, he called his Mandarin level “really terrible”, to laughter and applause. |
The talk was available to mainland viewers on Tsinghua University’s website, and circulated widely on domestic social media sites. Many users praised Zuckerberg’s apparent understanding of Chinese language and culture; others chose not to let his performance distract from the government’s treatment of his site. | The talk was available to mainland viewers on Tsinghua University’s website, and circulated widely on domestic social media sites. Many users praised Zuckerberg’s apparent understanding of Chinese language and culture; others chose not to let his performance distract from the government’s treatment of his site. |
“I really hope this can help resolve the problem of the internet being blocked,” wrote one user on Weibo, the country’s most popular microblog. | “I really hope this can help resolve the problem of the internet being blocked,” wrote one user on Weibo, the country’s most popular microblog. |
“Mark Zuckerberg, you think coming to China and speaking Chinese will make the government give Facebook a green light? Let me teach you a Beijing expression: ‘forget about it’,” wrote another. | “Mark Zuckerberg, you think coming to China and speaking Chinese will make the government give Facebook a green light? Let me teach you a Beijing expression: ‘forget about it’,” wrote another. |
Facebook has had a rocky history in mainland China, and is typically blocked by the country’s “great firewall”, the censorship apparatus with which the state keeps tight control over its citizens web use. | Facebook has had a rocky history in mainland China, and is typically blocked by the country’s “great firewall”, the censorship apparatus with which the state keeps tight control over its citizens web use. |
The company has, at times, considered working with the censors to get the site whitelisted – which would entail Facebook itself working to keep the network clean of objectionable content, such as references to the Tiananmen Square massacre or banned religion Falun Gong. | The company has, at times, considered working with the censors to get the site whitelisted – which would entail Facebook itself working to keep the network clean of objectionable content, such as references to the Tiananmen Square massacre or banned religion Falun Gong. |
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