Obama: “How are things going at home?” Hu: “Pretty good.”
Alia | March 28th, 2012 - 3:51 am
So starts the story of the meeting between US President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao at nuclear summit in Seoul. Several Chinese media, both online and offline, used the two-line conversation as the headline of what happened in Seoul yesterday.
According to these news articles, the Presidents of the world’s two biggest competing powers greeted each other like buddies at the nuclear summit in Seoul yesterday. But is that all? These newspapers and websites don’t intentionally put on such a headline for nothing – they can easily go with the standard and dull “President Obama and President Hu Jintao meet in Seoul blah blah blah”. And apparently, netizens get the joke.
Most believe that there is a political undertone in Obama’s question such as the recent political blockbuster involving Bo Xilai. Some think that the headlines are being sarcastic. Some others, most interestingly, speculate that the lines are secret codes between Obama and Hu to exchange key information.
Beijing News
Nandu Daily
iFeng.com
Caijing.com.cn
Comments from Sina Weibo:
安安和老爸: “Everyone does it….puns.”
面具下的THC: “What a great question…so much undertone.”
纯洁幽: “Is it just me? Or the conversation sounds weird?”
天下阿歪: “‘Hey, bro, You become darker and slimer. Too tired from troubles in North Korea, Iran and Syria?’”
领导走基层: “He meant, ‘How is Bo Xilai?’”
张兴魁: “Why do I feel that Obama is implying something else?”
锦官城小散户: “I think what Obama really wants to ask is the impact of Bo Xilai’s case.”
我很正经的说: “What Obama meant was ‘Are you OK with all the troubles we created for China?’”
秋水老爹: “They are definitely implying something else.”
jnuqsl述清: “It sounds like Obama is taking pleasure in China’s current misfortunes. Of course, he didn’t mean ‘home’, he meant ‘country’.”
陈萧军的视界: “How is it going at home? Obama is really wicked. Things are bad at home.”
富森刘松: “Things are good at home. No more red songs. No more fights against gangs. House prices are down. Gas prices are up. Everything is good. How’s it going in the US?”
非常-草根: “How are things going in Middle East? How are things going in North Korea? How are things going in Afghanistan?”
夏摩西: “How’s it going at home? Do we think too much or do they mean too much?”
melo-life: “Does Obama know that things are really bad at home now?”
西门吹不到雪: “So foreigners know how to use puns, too?”
游游云: “Hu answered as if he didn’t understand the real meaning of Obama’s question.”
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