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Netizens Jeer Publicity Stunt by Peking University President
A woman views the Chinese social media website Weibo at a cafe in Beijing on April 2. (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images)
The president of one of the most prestigious universities in China was recently mocked and ridiculed by Internet users, who thought he had made a show of being a filial son and had it publicized in a number of newspapers.
A number of papers, and Internet portals, published on their front pages Zhou Qifeng, president of Peking University, kneeling next to his mother on a visit to his hometown in Liuyang County, Hunan Province, on July 13.
The occasion was his mother’s 90th birthday, but netizens wondered why he had brought along a flock of reporters (a reporter with a video camera was visible at the corner of one of the photos).
Chinese microbloggers were quick to express their distaste for Zhou’s high-profile display of filial piety.
Even Hu Xijin, chief editor of the nationalistic Global Times, a tabloid owned by Party mouthpiece People’s Daily, posted to his Sina Weibo account: “Filial piety should be a basic moral requirement for a Peking University president, not something to show off. It is meaningless for a revered Peking University president to publicly show off a personal virtue.” The Weibo post was re-posted over 16,000 times and received over 8,000 comments.
Danwei, a blog focused on China, translated some of the netizen commentary on the incident. User “Ruan_qing” wrote: “The president of Peking University goes home to congratulate his mother on her 90th birthday, and right next to him there happens to be a photographer to capture it? And the picture looks so professional?”
User “Toutiaoxinwen” wrote: “He can kneel, but he didn’t have to do it in front of all those people. He must have been worried that if he didn’t’ kneel at that moment, not everyone would known about it. Moreover, do people really need to applaud when a man kneels like that?”
Netizens also gave Zhou a hard time earlier this year when pictures circulated of his eagerly smiling face during Vice Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to the Peking University campus.
Other officials at Peking University have been criticized for making derogatory remarks about Hong Kong residents and petitioners in China. In January, Peking University professor Kong Qingdong insulted Hong Kong people by calling them “dogs” on national television. Professor Sun Dongdong once stated that petitioners in China suffer from mental disorders.
Read the original Chinese article.
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