How disgruntled Chinese people talk about you-know-who
Are they quoting ancient poems or complaining about a modern emperor?
ON MAY 6TH Wang Xing, a Chinese tech tycoon, posted a classical ninth-century poem on Fanfou, a social-media platform. The poem mocked an ancient Chinese emperor who tried to quell unrest by burning books. “The ashes of burnt books had not yet faded away but the Qin dynasty was already weak,” read the poem. For some reason, cynics suggested that the dynasty Mr Wang had in mind was not an ancient one at all, and the “emperor” he was mocking was Xi Jinping.
Mr Wang swiftly deleted the post, and censors wiped all comments. But the share price of Mr Wang’s firm, Meituan, a popular online platform for shopping and delivery services, promptly collapsed. In four days it declined in value by $26bn, wiping $2.5bn from Mr Wang’s personal fortune. He insisted that he had been referring to competition within the e-commerce industry. His firm is one of several that have come under recent close scrutiny from antitrust regulators.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline "Xi who must not be named"
From the May 22nd 2021 edition
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