Facebook is banned in China, but the co-founder of the world’s largest social network appears determined to win over hearts and minds in Beijing — in Mandarin.<\/p>\n
Mark Zuckerberg surprised a hall full of Chinese and international students when he kicked off a question-and-answer session at the elite Tsinghua University with the words “Hello, everyone” in Chinese.<\/p>\n
The 30-year-old head of the US-based site conducted the entire half-hour session in Mandarin, eliciting cheers and applause from the shocked crowd, a video of the event he posted Thursday showed.<\/p>\n
Zuckerberg discussed topics including his philosophy on founding a company and his view of Chinese innovation, as well as more personal matters such as his favourite colour, favourite Chinese dish and the Chinese-American family of his wife, Priscilla Chan.<\/p>\n
“I want to study Chinese culture,” he said. “Studying the language helps me study the culture. So, I’m trying to learn the language.Also, I like a challenge.”<\/p>\n
Facebook has been blocked in mainland China since 2009, ranking it among a growing number of major global social media sites including Twitter, YouTube and Instagram that have been blacklisted by the ruling Communist Party.<\/p>\n
Despite the ban, Facebook officials have made frequent trips to Beijing, speaking at tech conferences and meeting with business and government leaders.<\/p>\n
The company has an office in Hong Kong, where Facebook is not blocked, and has also reportedly rented office space in Beijing in a bid to boost its business selling online ads to Chinese companies and local governments seeking to promote themselves abroad.<\/p>\n
Zuckerberg himself has visited China four times, he said at Wednesday’s event, and earlier this week he was named to the advisory board of Tsinghua’s School of Economics and Management, a further step towards strengthening the company’s China ties.<\/p>\n
Asked about Facebook’s plans in the country, he maintained: “We’re already in China.”<\/p>\n
“We help Chinese companies increase their overseas customers; they use Facebook advertising to find more customers,” he said. “So, we want to help different places in the world understand China.”<\/p>\n
Asked by the moderator what he believes is the secret to Facebook’s success, he responded that “the most important thing is you can’t give up”.<\/p>\n
“It’s very difficult to develop a company,” he said. “Most things won’t go smoothly. You’ll have to make some difficult decisions. You may have to lay some people off.”<\/p>\n
“If you don’t believe in your mission, it’s very easy to give up,” he added. “Most founders give up. But the best ones don’t.”<\/p>\n
He also opined that “the best companies aren’t made because the founder wants to found a company, but because the founder wants to change the world”.<\/p>\n
During the question-and-answer session, Zuckerberg — who is red-green colourblind — said that his favourite colour is blue, the colour of the Facebook website.<\/p>\n
He also drew laughs when he recalled a conversation with his wife about his Chinese language ability.<\/p>\n
“One day, I asked her, ‘Why is my Mandarin listening ability so bad?'” he told the crowd.<\/p>\n
“She responded: ‘You’re also bad at listening in English.'”<\/p>\n
Facebook WhatsApp deal still under question<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Facebook didn\u2019t mean to upset you<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Facebook in hot water over user experiment<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n