After bin Laden’s death, PRI did a nice piece on the Chinese’s reaction to it. Today, I checked Sina Microblog (weibo), one of China’s major social media like twitter, and realized that bin Laden is the most popular topic for this week. On one of China’s most popular social network websites, kaixin001.com, posts related to bin Laden have been circulated widely as well. Many of these microblogs and posts are humorous and often critical of China’s politics and government with a sarcastic tone. However, some of these jokes may come across as insensitive to American people’s feelings. It appears that many Chinese look at bin Laden’s death almost indifferently, although according to the PRI piece mentioned before, some Chinese do have opinions on the handling of this matter by the U.S. one way or the other. To many Chinese, the incident is a dramatic representation on the media, and perhaps Chinese netizens care more to use the characters in this drama to comment on Chinese social realty than to comment on the U.S. Foreign policy. Here are some of the posts:
@哀川心叶: In fact… bin Laden had something to say after he got shot… but the SWAT team were too busy opening champaign and eat noodles to listen… Laden was lying on the carpet as he said, “The carpet in my home was woolen… but why is this artificial fabric….”
柴郡猫殿下: Today in class a girl asked me, why was bin Laden so hated? I explained to her casually that that was because he conducted 911, and she asked me what was 911… I was so socked
鬼才来看: Obama is bin Laden, this is the new global topic http://t.cn/hgnGzF
janelavender1991: Haha. MX– sharing all the funny stuff: Finally I understand why we only have 3 days off for May Day, not 7 days! The first day off, William got married; the second day off, Kadafi’s son and grandson died; the third day off, bin Laben died. Thank god we only had 3 days off, otherwise… http://t.cn/hgmEem
Chinese used to have 7 days off for the May Day, but the holidays have been reduced to 3 days since last year.
This following one is a sarcastic comment on corruption, sexism, bureaucracy, high housing prices, and other problems in Chinese society today.
Obama Watches bin Laben Killed, What Does This Photo Tell You? (2011 Graduate School Admission Exam on Politics, this question 10 points)
Answers:
1. This shows that this country does not distinguish the king from the subordinates, for they put their president in the corner
2. This shows that this is a barbarian country, for the president sat on a small stool, and the staff sat on comfy chairs
3. This shows that this country is very backward, for the leaders of the country are using laptops that are more than 3 years old
4. This shows that this country is very poor, for the drink on the table of the leaders is not Maotai (an expensive rice wine), but plain water, which is not even bottled, but in shabby disposable cups
5. This shows that houses in this country are expensive, for the conference room for the leaders is smaller than a restroom
6. This shows that this country needs to sing red songs (praise), for the conference room for the leaders of the country only has one decent chair, and the leader is sitting on a stool in the corner
7. This shows that the staff should study Confucius and Mengzi, for they are not even surrounding their leader, which is so shameful for the country and the whole nation
8. That one in uniform should be hexie‘ed (“harmonized,” meaning silenced), for he sits in the president’s chair
9. This shows that this country lacks infrastructure, for the walls of the place where the president works are so dirty
10. Hillary can retire now, for as the only woman, she isn’t even sitting on the laps of the president and giving him a massage, but listening to the report attentively, sitting far away [from the president]
….
Chinese Netizens’ Hilarious Comments after Laden’s Death
Today I heard a graduate student in Sociology crying next door, and it turned out that for whole year he had been working on his thesis titled “On the Necessary Connection between bin Laden’s Refuging and the Market System in U.S.”… Unfortunate man, so wronged…
[…]
I just saw somebody say–“bin Laden, Hitler, Voldemort, the three brothers all died on May 2nd. One wishes to die on the same day with a good friend although they weren’t born on the same day (a Chinese saying describing bonding friendship).
[…]
In the White House. Bush Jr. slapped Obama’s face hard, crying, “Why, why did you kill him, when I already gave you my seat?” Obama wiped off the blood on the corner of his mouth slowly, and said chillingly, “Do you still remember Saddam who you killed years ago?”
[,,,]
An American official told CNN, bin Laden’s hiding place was worth a million dollars. Such a successful man lived in a house that was cheaper than those in the 2nd Ring Road in Beijing, such low taste.
Thirty years ago, he helped Regan wear out SSSR, ten years ago, he helped Bush advance in the Middle East, today, he sacrificed himself, and helped Obama with his reelection. A foreigner, without any self-serving motive, treating American people’s emancipation as his own cause, what is this spirit? His is the spirit of internationalism! Comrade bin Laden is a righteous man, a pure man, a man without a low taste!
