A behind-the-scenes video of French President Emmanuel Macron wrestling with the Chinese pronunciation of his climate change slogan “Make our planet great again” has delighted Chinese social media.
The candid footage shows Macron sneezing and wondering when to breathe as he diligently repeats the phrase after his instructor, while a woman touches up his make-up and two bemused men in military garb look on.
Macron was able to show off his new skills on Monday in a keynote speech on the future of Sino-French relations during a stop in Xian, China.
However, it was the video of him learning the Chinese version of the expression — a tongue-in-cheek jab at US President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan — that endeared him to Chinese social media users.
“Rang,” Macron said in the clip posted on Twitter on Monday.
“It’s like ‘Jean,’ then,” he said, referring to a French first name that sounds like the pronunciation of the Chinese word “rang.”
Determined to properly execute Mandarin’s difficult tones, the president asks: “So where am I supposed to breathe?”
Enunciating the phrase, he said: “Rang diqiu zaici weida” (讓地球再次偉大) — Make the planet great again.
Macron, who speaks fluent English, was applauded for his efforts on China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform yesterday.
“President Macron’s really giving it his all,” one commenter said. “To spread his environmental philosophy in China, he even learned how to say ‘make Planet Great Again’ in Chinese hahahaha.”
Another user wrote that it showed his “steadfast resolve” to spread his environmental message.
Macron visited the Forbidden City yesterday and is to hold more talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) following their initial meeting on Monday night.
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