Yesterday, the state-run People’s Daily Online ran the story Kim Jong-un Named The Onion’s Sexiest Man Alive For 2012, embellishing it with a 55-photo slideshow of the North Korean leader. The American parody paper later pointed readers to the People’s Daily pages, praising the “exemplary reportage” of their “Communist subsidiary.” Not surprisingly, the People’s Daily post has since been removed. (Korea Times also missed the humor and reported the Onion story as real news.) Weibo denizens didn’t miss a beat:
OnionWeekly: Late in the evening, we learned that the Onion and People’s Daily have conducted official communications, and People’s Daily has received high praise from the Onion. We are somewhat please to announce that The Onion Weekly and the People’s Daily represent the most authentic voice of China.
洋葱周刊：深夜获悉人民日报和洋葱新闻进行了业务交流，并获得得了洋葱新闻的高度赞赏，我们略感欣慰地表示，洋葱周刊和人民日报代表着中国最真实的声音。
JusticeProtectorTyrael: You really don’t get it. The People’s Daily Online is also a parody site!
正义守望者Tyrael：你真不懂啊。人民网也是专业恶搞的啊
Keluoyidu: Ironically, People’s Daily Online just cannot fathom the existence of a fake news website on this earth. What is your State Administration of Radio, Film and Television doing?!
克洛伊杜：人民网无法想象这世界居然有假新闻网站，你们的广电管理局呢？！
TeacherHeJiong: Certainly, this mistake was committed by some temporary worker at @PeoplesDaily. It has nothing to do with the “newspaper of truth” @PeoplesDaily.
何囧老湿：这一定是@人民日报 临时工干的，与真理报@人民日报 无关。
HeiQiQideQi: So, in the eyes of the People’s Daily, there can actually be “other media”?
黑柒柒的柒：人民网的眼中还能有“其它媒体”这个词？
SaltyRay: This because you are firewalled. You read English, but you are uncivilized. Man, that’s gotta hurt.
SaltyRay：让你防火墙 有英文没文化 内伤了吧
BetweenLight&Dark: You can see just how complacent the official Chinese media have become.
黑暗与光明之间: 可见中国官媒的固步自封到了什么程度
Durex_UnclePanda: I heard the editor of this article grew up on Party publications.
杜斯雷_Panda叔：据悉，该媒体编辑是读党报长大的。
YouYe: Re @2Badger: This is a problem of values. When they see the American imperialists experiencing a catastrophe, they gloat. When they see something good happen to Little Brother, they can’t send their congratulations fast enough. As for authenticity… who cares?
悠野：回复@二獾:价值观的问题。看见美帝有啥灾祸就幸灾乐祸，看见小弟有啥喜事连忙道贺，至于新闻真实性，才不管呢。
Ivan: Seeing the People’s Daily commit such a blunder, I can’t help but worry about the intelligence of these “mouthpieces”… However, you really can’t blame them. Nowadays, it’s harder and harder to find great, glorious, and correct events. Stretched as they are for positive news, they would seize this opportunity like a fat kid on cake. I can understand if they were so happy that they forgot to judge its authenticity.
墨宇轩Ivan：看到人民网出这种糗，真的好替这些喉舌们的智商捉急…. 不过也难怪，现在一起走正路的伟光正形象越来越难找啦，捉襟见肘情形下，逮着一个如获至宝，都高兴的忘记去判断也可以理解
TooMuchTalent: I find this quite odd, as well. Chinese media mostly quote gossipy reporting from less authoritative foreign media organizations–especially reports that praise China. Could it be that the editors of our major domestic media outlets all got their jobs by going through the back door, too?
有才太有才了：我也很奇怪，国内媒体引用最多的都是国外的八卦小报，尤其是称赞中国的。难道国内大报社的编辑们也都是走后门进去的？
PretendInNY: The article is written like this: Although China has surpassed the United States in many ways, we still have the obvious upper hand when it comes to sarcasm and criticism. Because of this, the Onion–our main exporter of sarcasm and criticism–has successfully tricked the mouthpieces of Communist Party that Kim Jong-un is the sexiest man in the world. #andjustlikethatChinasaverageIQwaslowered#
假 装在纽约：文章是这样写的：中国也许已经在很多领域已经超过了美国，但是感谢上帝，我们在讽刺和批评这两件事上还有明显的优势。正因为如此，我们的洋葱新 闻——讽刺和批评的主要出口商——才能成功地让共产党的喉舌相信金正恩是世界上最性感的男人。#平均智商就是这样被人民日报拉低的#
MuMuisHere: Perhaps according to the Party-media mentality, this occurrence is completely probable. In fact, in Mainland China, the concept of “black humor” isn’t necessarily widespread — especially among the ranks of those within the system.
木木在这里：或者在党报的思维里，这件事是严肃的完全有可能发生的而且，在大陆，“黑色幽默”这个东西还不是普遍可以有，特别不是体制内的人有的东西。
GeLeixia: If the Party says he’s sexy, he’s sexy.
格蕾夏：party说他性感他就是性感
Via CDT Chinese. Translation by Little Bluegill.
