I’m not sure what amuses me more, that Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jia Bao has a Facebook profile, or that he has more supporters on his profile than US President George W. Bush.
That’ll teach George not to respond to natural disasters in a timely manner.
Still, the PM is just below Arnold Schwarzenegger – but really, even if you stick all the disasters that Grandpa Wen has weathered, it hardly amounts to saving the world from a future war with cyborgs. I mean, lets keep some perspective.
From the NYT article:
The page appears to have been set up recently. It is not clear whether Mr. Wen, 65, did it himself. Perhaps another government official put it up, or, just as likely, someone with no ties to Mr. Wen.
It bears a portrait of Mr. Wen in a gray suit, his lips set in what could be either a slight grin or a slight grimace.
The page offers a few bits of biographical information: His interests are Chinese literature and baseball, and his employer is the Central Government of the People.
More than 500 people have written on Mr. Wen’s Facebook “wall,†in Chinese and English.
The page does not have popular Facebook applications like Scrabulous, Cities I’ve Visited and Shelfari Books, but what it lacks in technical pizazz it makes up for in emotional reach.
It has a video showing horrific scenes from the earthquake playing beneath a mournful pop song. It has a photo of Mr. Wen holding up a schoolchild’s dusty backpack and white sneaker while atop rubble, and one of him crouching and looking at rescue workers digging in a hole.
It also has photos from playful times, like ones of him wearing a baseball uniform and catching a ball with a mitt.
The vast majority of supporters appear to be Chinese living overseas, from Taiwan to Vancouver to Milwaukee.
An interesting side-note, just three refreshes of the page brought up a number Wen Jia Bao supporters I know:
John Biesnecker
David DeGeest
Lonnie Hodge
Christine Lu
Paul Denlinger
Nicholas Stanosheck
Brendan O’Kane
Ya buncha Commies! 😉
Wonder if he’d join my cartel in Dope Wars?
h/t to China Law Practice Blog via Hao Hao Report
I didn’t join the page but I admire Wen Jiabao for his humanist touches. The Facebook page is yet another development to make me wonder if Hu Jintao is going to be jealous of Wen.
I guess it was only a matter of time before my status as a Wen Jiabao fanboy was revealed. 🙂
I greatly admire his simplicity in action and low profile character as a great leader. I pray that he has all the endurance to face the oppositions from either insice or outside the country.I wish him good luck and long life.