When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
China

Mark Zuckerberg, 'Pushing Hands' Of A Kung Fu Master

Learning Mandarin is just part of the Facebook founder's ambitious but subtle strategy to return to the Chinese market. Huo Yuanjia (and Ang Lee) would be proud.

Mark Zuckerberg, 'Pushing Hands' Of A Kung Fu Master
Meiqi An

Mark Zuckerberg has apparently learned more from the Chinese than just Mandarin.

The Facebook founder wowed the world again this week, handling a 30-minute Q&A in Beijing almost entirely in the Chinese language that he's been privately studying for the past four years. (And yes, he did an admirable if rather-short-of-perfect job with his Mandarin.)

But beyond the language, Zuckerberg has also clearly learned a lesson or two from his Chinese Kung-Fu idol Huo Yuanjia, applying the martial arts "Pushing Hands" technique — using gentle movements to redirect your opponent's force and undermining his natural instinct — toward his even bigger goal of gettting Facebook back up and running in China.

The native country of his wife's parents has banned Facebook since 2009. Since then, China is one of currently nine other countries, including Iran, North Korea and Cuba, where the little blue "F" cannot be found on the Internet.

Instead of attempting direct negotiations with the Chinese authorities as he'd done before, Zuckerberg now appears intent on more of a "pushing hands" approach. So there he was on stage promoting Facebook without even mentioning the word "Facebook," and accepting a place on the board of China's Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management.

But what the social media billionaire also said to his Chinese audience showed a master's touch for mixing flattery and sincerity. When he was asked why he's learning Chinese, Zuck said, "There are three reasons that I learn to speak Chinese. The first one is that my wife is Chinese, her family speaks Chinese and her grandmother only speaks Chinese. I want to talk with them. Second reason, I want to learn Chinese culture. China is a great country, and I think learning the language can help me get a better knowledge of the culture. And thirdly, Chinese is a very difficult language, and I am a person who loves challenge!"

He also had a self-deprecating joke ready, recalling that when he told his Chinese-American wife Priscilla Chan that he had trouble listening in Mandarin, she replied that he didn't listen well in English either.

Note: Taiwanese-American director Ang Lee, whose first family drama feature was the 1992 Pushing Hands, must be taking notes!

Zuckerberg also announced that 20 young Chinese graduates have been hired by Facebook this year, with many more hires planned in the years to come. He also sprinkled in a bit of American-Dreamlike inspiration for his hosts. "I created a company not because I wanted to create a company: It is because I want to change the world."

But one question seems to linger: Which will be more difficult, learning Chinese or getting Facebook back in the hands of the Chinese people?

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Society

How Parenthood Reinvented My Sex Life — Confessions Of A Swinging Mom

Between breastfeeding, playdates, postpartum fatigue, birthday fatigues and the countless other aspects of mother- and fatherhood, a Cuban couple tries to find new ways to explore something that is often lost in the middle of the parenting storm: sex.

red tinted photo of feet on a bed

Parenting v. intimacy, a delicate balance

Silvana Heredia

HAVANA — It was Summer, 2015. Nine months later, our daughter would be born. It wasn't planned, but I was sure I wouldn't end my first pregnancy. I was 22 years old, had a degree, my dream job and my own house — something unthinkable at that age in Cuba — plus a three-year relationship, and the summer heat.

I remember those months as the most fun, crazy and experimental of my pre-motherhood life. It was the time of my first kiss with a girl, and our first threesome.

Every weekend, we went to the Cuban art factory and ended up at the CornerCafé until 7:00 a.m. That September morning, we were very drunk, and in that second-floor room of my house, it was unbearably hot. The sex was otherworldly. A few days later, the symptoms began.

She arrived when and how she wished. That's how rebellious she is.

Keep reading...Show less

The latest