Gum-chewing, limo-eschewing Obama riles some Chinese
BEIJING — Ahead of an economic summit in Beijing, billed as the biggest international event in the Chinese capital since the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, authorities demanded that residents brush up their typically brusque manners. The Communist Party launched a six-month campaign to make Beijingers behave in a more civilized fashion to welcome the world.
Turns out the rude one, in the eyes of some Chinese Internet users, was the most prominent guest.
Live television coverage on China's top state-run channel Monday night showed the leaders of the 21 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member states arriving in iconic socialist limousines, along red-lit avenues, at the Water Cube, the Olympic swimming venue.
Obama eschewed the Red Flag limousine service that ferried other leaders one by one from a nearby building to a banquet, cultural show and fireworks at the aquatic venue. Some Chinese went online to criticize his preference for the familiar security of a U.S.-supplied vehicle, while others understood his choice, but what happened next surprised many here.
Obama emerged from his car chewing gum; he's a well-known user of Nicorette, the smoking-cessation gum. But Chinese Internet users, accustomed to the highly formal standards of their stiff party leadership, quickly characterized the leader of the world's most powerful nation as an impolite "idler," or careless "rapper."
"We made this meeting so luxurious, with singing and dancing, but see Obama, stepping out of his car chewing gum like an idler," wrote Yin Hong, a professor of journalism at Beijing's Tsinghua University, on the Twitter-like Sina Weibo micro-blog service. Twitter, like Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, is banned in China, whose censors fear such services could aid political protest.
Viewers also criticized state broadcaster CCTV when its news anchors failed to introduce all the leaders well. Sometimes the anchors appeared stuck, such as when the Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid strolled up to meet the Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The state-run media here have presented relentlessly positive views of the APEC meetings, despite the huge disruption to daily lives created by official decisions to shut multiple factories, government offices, schools, markets, roads and restaurants to ensure less smog and smoother traffic. Beijing Television aired interviews Monday with several residents praising APEC and welcoming the various restrictions.
On the streets, complaints are common, plus ironic welcome for the newly coined term "APEC Blue," referring to the brief appearance of a blue sky because of the pollution limits. Even with the severe measures, air pollution Monday reached "very unhealthy" levels, according to the U.S. Embassy measurement. But Chinese officials had a cure for that too — several popular local apps that usually display the U.S. level, together with the usually lower Chinese government levels, did not provide the U.S. Embassy statistic from Monday afternoon.
Contributing: Sunny Yang