Facebook CEO Charms Chinese Audiences
By staff reporter ANDREW ANCHETA
On October 23, a Chinese audience was astonished and delighted to hear Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg answer their questions in Mandarin. A video of the event, posted on Facebook and China’s Wechat, quickly became a hit on social media, making headlines in China and worldwide. The 30-minute forum, held for students of Beijing-based Tsinghua University, marked the young Internet tycoon’s appointment to the advisory board of Tsinghua’s School of Economics and Management, where he joins other financial luminaries like Apple’s Tim Cook and Foxconn’s Terry Gou.
New China Hand
“My Chinese is terrible,” Zuckerberg admitted with an appropriately Chinese level of humility, “but today I want to try using Chinese.” The audience was clearly willing to overlook his mistakes, and cheered and applauded loudly whenever he spoke. When asked why he wanted to learn Chinese, Zuckerberg gave three reasons. The first was, unsurprisingly, romantic. “My wife is Chinese,” he said. “Her second language is Chinese, but her grandma only speaks Chinese. I wanted to speak with her. One day last year, my wife and I decided to get married, so I told her grandma in Chinese. She was really surprised.”
The other two reasons were more surprising. “I want to study Chinese culture,” he said to more applause. “China’s a great country. I think that studying the language helps me study the culture, so I should study the language.”
Zuckerberg also mentioned his attraction to Chinese action heroes, and that he traveled to Tianjin specifically to see the statue of Huo Yuanjia, hero of a hit TV martial arts series of the 1980s. He also expressed fondness for Beijing’s local cuisine, including Peking Roast Duck and street snacks.
The third reason he gave (which is certain to resonate among other Chinese language learners) is that “Chinese is hard. I only speak English, but I like challenges.”
This is Mark’s fourth visit to China, he said. On an earlier visit the Facebook CEO drew China’s interest when he visited an Apple Store in Shanghai with his then-girlfriend, Chinese-American Priscilla Chan. The gossip spread rapidly on China’s Weibo and other social media.
Every year Mark sets himself a daily task for self-improvement. In 2010, his goal was to learn Mandarin. Although still far from perfect, he got extra points for courage. “Mark Zuckerberg’s Chinese is not bad at all. Bravo!” tweeted Mark Rowswell, the Canadian celebrity known better as Dashan. And even critics at Foreign Policy (who called his Mandarin “terrible”) had to admit that “it was impressive and brave of him to try.”
Knocking on China’s Door
What did Zuckerberg do to earn his rockstar welcome? In part, his career and personality are meaningful symbols to the rising new China. Zuckerberg, who started his multi-billion dollar social media empire in his college dorm-room, has since acquired a strong reputation as a brilliant programmer and a shrewd businessperson. Young, hip, authentic, and above all, self-made, the babyfaced billionaire represents everything that enterprising young Chinese want for themselves, as well as China’s national aspirations.
Despite his fumbles, the Facebook founder’s sincere efforts charmed his listeners, who have become used to hearing foreigners speak only English. As several bloggers have pointed out, Chinese entrepreneurs have become resigned to the expectation that they must speak English if they seek to do business abroad. For example, Alibaba’s Jack Ma had to give in-depth interviews in English before his company’s record-setting international IPO. Rarely, however, do foreign visitors return the courtesy. For Chinese people, wrote Washington Post blogger Brian Fung, “It’s hard to understate how much cultural and political messaging is bound up in a white person speaking Chinese, even bad Chinese.” For the Chinese, hearing a foreign businessperson speak Chinese — especially one as important as Mark Zuckerberg — represents a respectful nod to their country’s growing stature in world affairs.
When asked about his plans in China, Zuckerberg said, “We’re already in China. We help Chinese companies grow their international customer base. They use Facebook ads to find more customers.” He also noted that many Chinese tourist destinations use his social media to promote themselves: “Hangzhou and Qingdao also have great pages on Facebook. We cooperate with these cities to develop their pages and share Chinese culture.” Facebook is also popular among students and public figures; some 140 Tsinghua students have Facebook profiles, he added.
In his speech, Zuckerberg also spoke warmly of China’s future economic prospects. “I think China has many of the world’s most innovative companies,” he said, mentioning tech giants Xiaomi, Lenovo and Tencent in particular. “In China, we see a developing economy. We’re very impressed.”
