Summary

China condemned JD Vance on Tuesday for calling Chinese people “peasants” in a Fox News interview, where he said, “To make it a little more crystal clear, we borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture.”

The Chinese Foreign Ministry labeled the remarks “ignorant and disrespectful.”

The backlash exploded on Chinese social media, garnering 140 million Weibo views.

Critics mocked Vance’s own “hillbilly” background and pointed to China’s advanced tech and infrastructure, highlighting rising tensions amid Trump’s trade war.

  • dick_fineman@discuss.online
    451·
    5 days ago

    …I hate laughing at the downfall of my own country, but we definitely had it coming. I guess Chinese is the new lingua franca. Anyway, can someone help me understand why “Ma” in Mandarin means both weed and mom? How do I buy weed in Beijing?

    • Tkpro@lemmy.world
      20·
      4 days ago

      Mandarin has 4 (technically 5) tones so “ma” could be any one of those 4 different pronunciations. Furthermore, there are many completely different words that have the same tone/pronunciation. You just learn through context (same way as you do with English homophones)

      Mom in mandarin is 媽 (mā) whereas weed is 麻 (má). Colloquially you can also say 大麻 (dàmá) for weed.

      • k0e3@lemmy.ca
        41·
        4 days ago

        Also, even before you go into the nitty gritty, there are homonyms in English too, so I don’t get why OP needs an explanation.

        • Jiggle_Physics@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          3·
          4 days ago

          take this as you will, it is copy pasted from a site. most other sources i saw up to reading this said the same shit, so it is probably fairly accurate

          The Punishment for Marijuana in China

          Possession & Use: Individuals caught with marijuana or using marijuana will face administrative detention between 10 to 15 days, as well as fines of up to 2,000 yuan ($280 USD).

Trafficking and Distribution: Selling or distributing marijuana is a crime. Punishment for those found guilty of handling over 50 grams includes a minimum three-year prison sentence, with life incarceration or death being possible penalties for larger weights (or in special cases).

Marijuana Cultivation: Growing cannabis is another criminal offense, no matter how many plants. People arrested for growing marijuana could spend five years in jail and pay a hefty fine. For larger amounts, the punishment is even steeper.
      • Sonor@lemmy.world
        2·
        4 days ago

        you also use ma at the end of the sentences to form a question, to make it more confusing

      • 0x0@lemmy.zip
        2·
        4 days ago

        Not to mention Chinese is quite the endeavor to learn, Esperanto would make way more sense.