On May 25, the official Weibo account of the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong published its “Thoughts on Reading the U.S. Human Rights Report in the Style of the People’s Daily.” The humorous and sarcastic tone of the comments caused large scale re-posting and commenting. One sentence that particularly garnered attention– “Why do you always delete me?”–earned the consulate the nickname “American Imperialist Acting Cute.” Soon after, the official Weibo account of the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai joined the cuteness brigade:
@USConsulateShanghai: Yeah, One World, One Dream! //@usainhkmacau: Thoughts on Reading the U.S. Human Rights Report in the Style of the People’s Daily #1: “Developing democracy and guaranteeing human rights have always been the goals and values of Chinese Communist Party members.” (Huh! All this bickering and our goals are democracy and human rights. There’s no conflict!)
@usainhkmacau: Thoughts on Reading the U.S. Human Rights Report in the Style of the People’s Daily #2: “We should actively participate in and promote democracy and human rights through political dialogue. Because of each individual country’s different social structure, level of development and traditions, we understand the concepts of democracy and human rights differently. This is totally normal. The key is to seek common ground in spite of the differences.” (Then why do you always delete me?)
@usainhkmacau: Thoughts on Reading the U.S. Human Rights Report in the Style of the People’s Daily #3: “Democracy and human rights have long been pursued by all people. They are important qualities and signs by which the development of human civilization is measured.” (Then what are we fighting over? We are all on the same page!)
Below is a selection of netizen comments on the consulate’s thoughts. Read more from CDT Chinese here. Translation by Little Bluegill.
Ambiguous_Yu: To be deleted you means you are in their hearts.
若即若离_豫：删你证明心里有你。piggyogre_Jr: I strongly condemn the American imperialist attempt to interfere in my country’s domestic affairs by acting cute.
piggyogre_Jr：强烈谴责美帝通过恶意卖萌来干扰我国内政~DuduCola: Don’t you know how to punctuate? Political dialogue means you can’t speak unless your politics are correct [“dialogue” (duìhuà 对话) becomes “correct, speak” (duì, huà 对, 话)]. If your politics are not right to begin with, of course your comments will be deleted.
都都可乐：你不会断句了吧？政治对，话，意思是政治上正确的，才能说话。你从一开始就政治不正确，说的话当然被删掉了。EscapeFish: I’d like the consulate in Hong Kong to add it up. How many of your posts have been harmonized in all?
漏网知渔：请驻港领事馆统计，到底被和谐了多少条围脖？？BorntoBirth: A little deletion is good for your health.
生而为人生生人：删删更健康PeopleWantJustice: Deleting Weibo posts is something a temporary worker would do. What has this to do with the glorious Party and government? …Anti-revolutionary rumor-mongering! Delete!
人欲即天理：删帖的事情，是临时工干的，和伟大的党，伟大的政府有什么关系？…反革命造谣犯！删！PasForty: …Let’s just go ahead and delete this post as well…
PasForty：…再说把你这条也删了…IAmLongSpear: The People’s Daily Online has said, “That was deleted by Sina, it has nothing to do with us.”
我是长矛：人民网说了:“那是新浪删的, 不关我的事。”OldTiansField: If the consulate’s posts are fanned [bèi shān (被搧) homonym for “deleted” (被删)], all it can do is act cute…
老田的田：领事馆被搧得只好卖萌了。。。LiKedian: Quick, everyone come look! @usainhkmacau is facing off against @PeoplesDaily! @BeijingDaily @HuXijin @SimaNan hurry and join the fight!
李可点：大家快来看啊，@美國駐港總領事館 和@人民网 PK了，@北京日报 @胡锡进 @司马南 快来助阵HuZhimingviking: Constant struggle without breakthrough is a long-held tradition of the Chinese Communist Party.
鬍綕眀viking: 一直在奋斗，从未有突破，中国共产党的优良传统。
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