The whole world is watching a trade war unfold between China and the United States, with both not budging on their retaliatory tariffs. This is why it’s no surprise that netizens on Chinese social media are also having heated discussions about the situation. On Weibo, the topic “Foreign Ministry responds to the US’s abuse of tariff” (#外交部回应美滥施关税#) reached number 9 on the Hot Search list with 10.67 million views.
Among the Hot Search-worthy hashtags, one of them stands out because it looks as though it was lost in translation but maybe everyone in the English-speaking world understands the gravity of the outrage: “Foreign Ministry responds to US Vice President calling Chinese people peasants” reached number 2 on the Hot Search list with 44.06 million views. This refers to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian responding to JD Vance saying the globalised economy was borrowing money from Chinese peasants to buy things manufactured by Chinese peasants. A huge outrage ensued in the comments as people agreed with Lin, calling Vance ignorant and lacking in respect.
Of course, the word “peasant” from Vance is considered derogatory in English, but it needs to be pointed out that Chinese media and the Ministry and Foreign Affairs translated the term to “乡巴佬”, a more distinctively prerogative word that is equivalent to “hicks” or “hillbillies”. Some Chinese netizens used ad hominem attacks on Vance, his 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy and upbringing, like: “We’re not peasants, you are a hillbilly”. Before Vance, the word “peasant” historically referred to Chinese tenant farmers (佃农) in the days of class struggle and bore little negative connotation. Perhaps that is why they translated it with a more offensive Chinese word.
Many Chinese netizens felt personally offended by the expression from Vance and took to the web to berate Vance for either his upbringing or his political point-scoring. In this sense, Chinese netizens may find kindred spirits among many of their American counterparts, united against their disdain for Vice President Vance and the current administration.
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