Mark Zuckerberg’s Speech in Chinese Unplanned, Facebook CEO Caught Up in Audience’s Excitement

Mark Zuckerberg’s Speech in Chinese Unplanned, Facebook CEO Caught Up in Audience’s Excitement
Oct 28, 2014 By eChinacities.com

Editor’s Note: The following article, translated from wenxuecitydescribes Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s appearance at Tsinghua University, where he was attending a Q&A session following his appointment to Tsinghua University’s Advisory Board. Zuckerberg, who has a Chinese wife, surprised the audience by conducting the entire interview in Chinese.

At 18:30 on October 22, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared at an event hosted by Tsinghua University College of Economics and Management. Zuckerberg wore a gray short-sleeved T-shirt and blue jeans. During the 30 minute-long interview, he spoke with the audience and interviewer in Chinese. In the discussion, he mentioned that he first began learning Chinese in order to better communicate with his wife’s family, about four years ago. In the Q&A session, he expressed views on different Chinese Internet companies including Tencent and Xiaomi.

Mark Zuckerberg
Photo: DonkeyHotey

A student present in the audience for the interview said that when Zuckerburg said hello to the audience of over 300 students in fluent Chinese the crowd went wild. “He did not even finish his sentence and everyone had already gone crazy! The audience was almost manic with excitement,” said the student.

The Speech

Apparently, the Facebook staff had not intended for Zuckerberg to attempt to do the entire interview in Chinese. A staff member said that the company had originally planned for Zuckerberg to just say a few sentences in Chinese in order to get the audience’s attention. They did not know the reason why Zuckerberg “did not stop,” and continued speaking in Chinese.

Students who had been in the audience noted that about a third of the audience was made up of foreign students. Usually, during this kind of event, Chinese students have to ask the foreign students if they do not understand what is being said. Foreign students often have to help translate for the Chinese students. “But this time, it was reversed. We had to help translate for the foreign students.”

Learning Chinese

Zuckerberg decided to start learning Chinese in 2010 because he wanted to communicate better with his wife and his wife’s grandmother. He also said that he believes that China is a great country and that he wanted to understand Chinese culture better. He also said that Mandarin is very difficult to learn and he wanted to challenge himself.

Sources said that Facebook hoped to keep Zuckerberg’s trip to China low profile. Therefore there had been little external publicity for his Q&A session at Tsinghua University.

Tsinghua University Advisory Board

Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management recently announced their Advisory Committee Membership List for the 2014-2015 school year. There have been three new editions to the advisory board for the upcoming year. In addition to Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the new board includes Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Carlos Brito and IBM chairman, president and chief officer Ginni Rometty.

On October 21, the president of Tsinghua University Chen Jining met with Zuckerberg and congratulated him on joining the Tsinghua University Advisory Board. Chen Jining said that he hopes to further strengthen future exchanges and cooperation between Tsinghua University and Facebook, especially in terms of promoting in-depth cultural cooperation for students.

Facebook and China

Chen Jining said that from his personal and professional experience, the development of Facebook was in line with his own beliefs about cultivating and nurturing talent. He said that universities should develop a solid base for accumulating knowledge but must also leave room to develop innovative talent and organizational leadership. Chen said that he was very happy to welcome Mark Zuckerberg to Tsinghua University and hopes to further cooperation between Facebook and the university in the future. 

Zuckerberg began his Asia trip in early October and has already visited India, Indonesia, Korea and Japan and met with heads and important figures in the different countries.

Conclusion

The question still remains; will Facebook be allowed to enter the Chinese market? There are many problems and issues still surrounding this. Back in May, white collar workers working in Beijing’s Chaoyang District’s Fortune Financial Center divulged that the building now had a “newly renovated,” Facebook office. Facebook has also begun to recruit graduating students in China, however the recruitment is only for foreign posts within the company.

Source: Wenxuecity

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Keywords: Facebook in China Mark Zuckerberg Tsinghua University

9 Comments

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Guest626460

"Fluent" my butt! I saw the whole speech live; it was nothing but a rehearsed marketing campaign. If that is the benchmark for fluent Chinese, then I guess most of us foreign people in China are already natives.

Nov 05, 2014 12:00 Report Abuse

omid

Why he did not ask the Chinese gov to unblock his website ? His website is his lifeline but he did not care to ask for a very basic request !! Is he even aware that his website is blocked in China ?

Oct 31, 2014 10:22 Report Abuse

Finbar

I don't think it's as easy as walking up to someone and asking whether they'd go and unblock your website... Censorship in China was hot topic during the Olympics, and at that time the government simply denied actively censoring websites like Facebook. If they say they're not the ones to blame, asking them to do something about it won't change a thing.

Nov 02, 2014 18:03 Report Abuse

frvioque

Does he really speak chinese so good???

Oct 28, 2014 15:53 Report Abuse

Finbar

Four years should be plenty of time to get to a decent level, especially considering that his wife and her relatives would be able to give him pointers (even teachers here joke about the need for students to get a local girlfriend). Not to mention the fact that he could get himself whatever private teacher/studying materials he might want to boost his progress.

Oct 28, 2014 19:52 Report Abuse

xunliang

What's that got to do with the price of eggs?

Oct 28, 2014 15:08 Report Abuse

Robk

Well, if he wants to get Facebook in to China, he is using all the right methods. The only problem is that Chinese never play fair, especially in their own country. He will have to do some major sucking-up and cash transfers... Seems like he has already gotten himself started.

Oct 28, 2014 13:24 Report Abuse

dongbeiren

yea... I have trouble believing the speaking Chinese wasn't planned. It's a good strategy to ingratiate himself with the Chinese I'd say.

Oct 28, 2014 21:14 Report Abuse

xunliang

Ever feel you're living in a movie? "Take your stinking paws off me you damn dirty ape!" :o!!!!

Oct 28, 2014 12:55 Report Abuse