Any doubts about the enduring popularity of President Barack Obama in China should have been put at rest Monday morning, shortly after his arrival in Beijing for the APEC summit. China’s state-run CCTV network was on the scene live, reporting every moment of his entry, including what was described as his “slow walk” down the Air Force One jetway. Except, according to the thousands of Chinese users of social media who were watching, Obama wasn’t walking slowly — he was trotting quickly.
Big deal, right? Anywhere else in the world, such a discrepancy wouldn’t matter to anyone but the most committed troll. But in China, where state media is widely (and correctly) viewed as the scripted voice of a self-interested Communist Party, and Obama remains an aspirational symbol of American freedom and power, this was cause for viral delight. Soon, the video was circulating widely, along with a joke in which a pre-arrival Obama takes bets on whether the Chinese will describe him as “walking slowly.” The wily American president, wise to China’s bent media environment, can’t find any takers.
Needless to say, such a joke isn’t going to get many laughs back home, even among Democratic partisans. But Chinese social media, in particular, has been a reliable fan and supporter of Obama since 2008. Much of the interest is in his personal story as a self-made leader, which resonates in a country where top leaders achieve their positions primarily on the basis of family connections, and racial or ethnic minorities are effectively shut out of senior government positions. At the same time, his charisma and personal ease — especially in relation to his relatively staid Chinese counterparts — are widely admired and even coveted among Chinese anxious to see their government play a more public role on the world stage.
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