Videos

Shoe Thrown At Wen Jiabao, Chinese Reactions

by on Wednesday, February 4, 2009 136 comments comments

chinese-premier-wen-jiabao-cambridge-university-2009-getty

Yesterday, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was giving a speech at Cambridge University in England when a protestor threw a shoe at him. The shoe missed but reminded everyone of when a protestor threw a shoe at George W. Bush, the former American president, last December.

chinese-premier-wen-jiabao-cambridge-university-2009-thrown-shoe

A few chinaSMACK readers asked me if we will report about it. Of course many people want to know how Chinese people will react when it happens to their own leader instead of another country’s leader. One person also threatened our “honesty” if we do not, but I am not sure why it affects our honesty. Wow, do not be so serious.

During most of yesterday Tuesday 2009 February 3, Chinese websites and BBS discussion forums did not allow people to post reports, video, or allow discussion of what happened. Even right now, this is what happens when I do some searches on Baidu:

cambridge-shoe-thrown-chinese-premier-wen-jiabao-baidu-search-result

Search results may not be compatible with relevant laws, regulations and policies, not shown.

Google.cn also does not have as much information as non-Chinese Google. Most BBS discussion topics about the incident were deleted today, but there were still some. For example, the below comments from Youku are from a video reporting about Premier Wen’s speech at Cambridge but does not report about the shoe-throwing incident.

However, it looks like CCTV finally reported about it last evening at 7pm through its daily “Xin Wen Lian Bo” news program.

Video also on Sina.

The Chinese CCTV report shows the protestor’s disturbance and  Premier Wen’s response. It also mentions the British media criticizing the protester, apologies from Cambridge University and the British government, and that the Premier accomplished his goals and felt his trip to the UK was still a success.

I think the government wanted to first decide how they will present what happened…and maybe first see how most Chinese people are reacting.

Many people, including Americans, did not like George W. Bush. However, many Chinese people really like Premier Wen Jiabao and he is a very popular official. Many Chinese think he is one of the few good government officials and really care about the people. So, I think most people and comments will be supportive of him and the BBS forums will soon begin allowing people to talk about this.

Comments on Youku:

山城骄子:

I was watching the live broadcast and discovered people making a disturbance. I was very angry, but Premier Wen’s performance was very admirable.

→炎←諦┱:

My fellow comrades who were present, why not use our fist to tell that rude bastard that the price for throwing shoes at our beloved Premier Wen is not something “it” can afford.

淘今者:

To the person sitting in the back 20 or so rows who threw the shoe, do not fucking ever come to China! Otherwise, it will not be shoes thrown at you, but the fists of the descendants of the Yellow Emperor [the Chinese people]!

blesspeter:

How come the most important part was not reported? Such as the Premier having a shoe thrown at him by a student? Just like Bush. When it happened to Bush, there were a huge uproar of reports, so how come there are no reports for our own Premier…I don’t understand!

ko1314

How come they don’t show the shoe-throwing scene?

花篝の運命:

难过难过 Grandpa Wen always looks so kind~~!!! China jia you!!!

孔令然:

Long live the premier, long live the motherland!
As for what happened,

To the heckling troublemaker, the Premier is very kindly and calmly but shockingly replied~
“Humanity’s progress, the world’s harmony, is a historical trend that no force can stop.”

ai22shan44:

Peasants/farmers all being exempt from tax, peasants/farmers doing well, all depend on the party’s Wen Jiabao.

樱和日丽:

[China] Absolutely has the strength to dominate the world, and also absolutely can become the world leader, but absolutely not hegemonic.

kawaidog:

Premier Wen, poor you~~I salute you~!!!

世界没有了我:

Everyday, I hold incomparable excitement watching the news, to see tomorrow, because none of us know what crazy thing will happen tomorrow~because tomorrow will be even more incredible~赞

国际评委A:

Premier Zhou is China’s foreign diplomacy legend…not everyone can become a legend. ~I also highly regard Premier Wen! One thing. As long as they are working for the ordinary common people, they are good officials! Not according what they’re rank/position is!

韩流行

I love him, love him, and will always love that elder. I sincerely wish you good health when you grow old and can live a long life. That our China today’s is prosperous country and has plenty is completely because of leaders Premier Wen and Secretary Hu, and I sincerely thank  you two elders. You two have worked hard. Last year, seeing you at the disaster areas working day and night without eating, my heart hurt so much that I shed tears. I know that me saying thanks is useless because all of my reverence to you cannot be expressed in words.

职业看家:

China does not need to wage war to become powerful. Using force to resolve problems, that is what barbaric races do.

生命中的一次:

My favorite leader is Premier Wen, he is worth our respect.

jiamingan:

Looks like Cambridge University should increase good character education~!!!

罗小猪１:

Our China will never seek hegemony!! It is only a few people who do not understand China who think so!

季lin:

If someone throws a show, it is definitely a foreigner. Cambridge’s foreigners [non-Chinese] truly have bad character, I seriously despise this. 无语

大便活人:

Foreign devils, go to hell.

初次到地球:

Premier Wen is the people’s good Premier!!! So old, these two years, he has truly been tireless wherever there have been natural and man-made disasters! The number one person from the central government is him!!

F东D杰J:

Who still dares to mess with our China?? …America?? Get out of the way…our China is the big man now~! OH HOHOHO~~搞笑搞笑搞笑

chinese-premier-wen-jiabao-cambridge-university-2009-profile

Comments on KDS:

欧阳灏骅 oyhh:

五毛党魁 wumaos:

Clearly our Bao Bao used his qi power to suck the Westerner’s shoe into his hand.
[Bao bao is an affectionate nickname for Wen Jiabao]

虎虎 magicsim:

It is on YouTube. ** was too disrespectful to our Premier Wen, “F” them!

麻辣冰激凌 kellyli:

Shameful, get out!

雨影 shadower:

It proves that we are indeed a big/powerful country now, as who would bother with a small/weak country? It is unfortunate I fell asleep after watching the first half yesterday. I don’t know whether or not they showed the last half.

南生 lansuqiu:

Having different sounds is very harmonious.
Not having different sounds would actually be not harmonious.
[sounds = views/opinions]

Esperanza esperanza:

No manners, even insulting others.
I am wondering what would happen if it was a Chinese exchange student [studying in England].

wang wang8621:

His adaptability is indeed lacking a bit…Bush at least said: Hope the shoe size is right…

Does Wen not realize that basically no one in Europe pays attention to his mouth full of fake and empty words?

金蝉长老 lxflashwl:

When Hu and Wen jeered at Bush, they already became the world’s laughing stocks

拆边伐拆卡 darksoso:

So many of these topics have all been deleted, how come this topic has gotten replies until now?

Is it only because Official Bao Bao was referred to as SIR?

Global Voices Online also have a few translations of Chinese netizen reactions from Xiaonei, DWNews, and Youtube. There are also more English language reports on Danwei and Shanghaiist.

chinese-premier-wen-jiabao-cambridge-university-2009-uk-flag

See more silly things with government officials:

Newer Comments →
  • too yellow

    first, would have been nice to see a shoe fight, instead of the shame on you

  • rat sass

    what ever.

  • Rick in China

    @USTCer

    The size is hardly the most deadly attribute I would give a shoe, have you ever been on a plane or train in China when some grubby hygienically challenged loser takes his shoes off to stretch his toes? That stank by far outweighs my size in deadliness…

  • CJ
  • Luther

    It never ceases to amaze me when people degenerate into racism after being angered. I’m bothered by the people who slam all chinese and I am bothered by people who slam all westerners. I just don’t understand being THAT angry and immune to reason.

  • Nathan

    wow that makes me mad…all my family in china says he is a great leader…i was born in the states and bush sucked so i laughed my ass off when the guy threw a shoe at him but this makes me mad…
    the whole thing can be seen here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ_50VrLUBo at the american version of youtube you can hear the guy blow a whistle then yell “How can the university prostitute itself with this dictator? How can you listen to these lies” then he thwos the shoe, it missed by a couple of feet, you can hear the audience booing him and yelling “shame on you” and “your a discrace” while he is being carried out then a loud round of applause as Premier Wen finished his speech/lecture

  • sql
  • izme

    i dont know about you guys, but when i type wenjiabao and shoe in utube

    my connection gets resetet.

    fukc u propaganda country

  • Ronnie

    @Luther, at least someone is talking sense here. I applaud you.

    @izme, think with your toes you’ll find out your computer is F*cked up. Yes, you’ve been targeted and pray for mercy…a balking loser…

  • Jane

    It is totally stupid and the person who threw it obviously was looking for attention. I understand when its done to Bush in Iraq there is symbolic meaning to it but for a English country where there is nothing behind it, what is the point.

  • Joe #2

    I honestly can’t understand why someone would do this? Why him?

    Why not throw a shoe at the corrupt officials? The culprit probably just wanted to get their name in the newspapers or something.

    At least when someone threw a shoe at Bush, everyone knew he deserved it.

  • Matt

    Man, some of those responses were freaking insane. In America, we have religious nuts who go way overboard when it comes to worshiping. Since China is Atheist, I guess the equivalent over there is worshiping the country too much.

    I hope that those responses only reflect a small percentage of Chinese because these people are embarrassing their country.

  • Think

    We need to exercise the rational that these Chinese posters aren’t, a few voices don’t represent a country. I hope these few FQ comments don’t represent China and I can tell you guys a German guy throwing a show does not represent the UK.

  • Bill

    There are reasons why this incident was not reported widely in Chinese media.

    The primary function of news media is to report news – factual news. But incidents must first qualify as news – either the subject (the person) was somewhat important or at least one that people pay attention to, or the incident is somewhat unusual – man bit dog, not dog bit man.

    This incident was not widely reported in Chinese media. The incident must have failed at least one of the above criteria – (a) important person (b) unusual event.

    So, either Wen is not important, at least from Chinese media’s points of view. That is, Wen is just a nobody, not news worthy.

    And, may be Wen got hit by shoes almost on a daily basis.

    May be both – a nobody who got shoes thrown at him everyday got a shoe thrown at him. Not news material.

  • aDn

    Which one of those comments are insane? :O

  • Josiah

    Joe #2 I’d be very surprised if Wen Jiabao had no corrupt skeletons in the closet. Chinas political system isn’t clean enough that you can rise to the top on your own merits. Remember, scum always rises to the top. I’m not saying Wen Jiabao is a bad man, I’m just saying I think he must have used corruption to his advantage at some point to get where he is, because I’m sure all his competitors would have as well.

    Wow theres some hard core nationalists posts up there eh. A lot of pissed off 20 year olds in china I guess.

  • fireworks

    Who was the person who threw the shoe at WJB?

    It could be a student, treehuggers, bored shitless bum.

    @Rick in China

    I have been on a bus in south east asia where this dude was wearing sandals, he took it off and slept on the bus. It stank like shit for 4-5 hours trip.

  • Peteryang

    I said this on Danwei.com so I will copy it here:
    ————————————–
    Wen is fundamentally different from other commie bosses, I’d pleasantly throw my semen-soaked panty at Jiang Zemin or Li Peng but never Wen. He openly preaches about right and democracy all the time and thats one hell of a job for a ccp member in a largely conservative hardline party, and behind-the-scene he is pushing reforms that other leaders are just too lazy to do.

    internet censorship, tibet, dissent persecution and whatnot have nothing to do with him, he isn’t even in charge of these affairs. so the buttom line is, this idiot targeted the very wrong person, he could study more about China’s politics before untying his shoelace so he could know things aint that simple.

    and whats more outrageous is the protestor had a choice to ask questions after Wen is done speaking, which I believe would be more satisfying for him than a dart show.
    ——————————————-

    AND NICE JOB CHINASMACK FOR THIS SHIT SO I FINALLY HAVE A PLACE TO DEBATE WITHOUT ROBOTIC FQ TROLLS.

  • TK

    Taiwan 4 life.

  • Bozo

    PeterYang, how on earth do you know that Wen is different? I’d err on the side of cynicism.

    I wonder how many Chinese spotted the irony in last night’s news reports which quoted Cambridge University’s website saying it is a place of reasoned debate and considered argument. If only students in China’s universities were allowed to have reasoned debate about whether the CCP is fit to rule China. Britain, once a beacon of free speech and political demonstration, is going from Bush’s lapdog to China’s.

  • Tom

    I just cant get over the hypocracy of laughing at something that happens to someone else and then getting angry when it happens to themselves. If this really is the case then the Chinese really shouldnt mind if we have a good laugh at Wen right? I mean its only fair?

  • Tom

    Nicely said Bozo, however England is in so much trouble they would lick the arse of Somalia right now if they could help.

  • aDn

    You think reasoned debate is throwing a shoe bozo?

  • Hammy

    Definitely an attention seeker who don’t even know what he is protesting about. When the Iraqi journalist throw it, it was because Bush ruined his country, caused the death of a million of his countryman, and also because it actually meant something in their culture. When this guy threw it, he has probably have no deep understanding of any issue. If he understand China and Chinese people and actually want to protest against human rights or whatever, he wouldn’t have thrown a shoe at the most popular Chinese leader and perhaps also the most liberal.

    It is also ironic that the shoe is very likely made in China. If only Wen made an awesome joke/comeback of that fact…

  • Peteryang

    Bozo said: “…it is a place of reasoned debate and considered argument…”

    ————————

    right there, see? you just defeated yourself.

  • Peteryang

    I stand by what I said, I never like CCP but I am drawing a huge line right in front of Wen, and I felt relieved when he took office, if it were some other assholes like Li Peng or Li Changchun it would be a fucking disaster for China.

  • too yellow

    “Cambridge University’s website saying it is a place of reasoned debate and considered argument.”

    perhap Cambridge need to Change the website a bit. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad guy come to NYC and nothing happened.

  • Why so serious?

    Of all the officials, this guy chooses to throw a shoe at the cleanest and most genuinely kind and admirable one.

    We clearly have a ‘winner’ here.

    BTW: The shoe was Made in China…size still not verified.

  • Peteryang

    Mahmoud Ahmadinejad guy come to NYC and nothing happened.
    ——————–
    a lots things happened. there was protest on campus, the principal called him a “petty dictator”, he was denied to visit ground zeo…

  • Bozo

    Peter Yang

    Personally I think Wen is part of a cynical PR stunt to present a cuddly face to the people of China. And while people like Hu Jia remain in jail, nothing will change my opinion on that front.

    I don’t see how the reasoned debate etc comment defeated me. The point I was making was irrelevant to the lobbing of the shoe. I was pointing out the irony/shamelessness whatever, of Chinese state media’s ability to report such facts knowing that students in its own country do not enjoy the right to engage in debate on whatever subject they see fit.

  • dace

    I was at a family dinner last night and my wife’s uncle mentioned that something must’ve happened at the speech, because the broadcast suddenly cut out. I didn’t tell them what had happened as it was much more interesting listening to their baijiu fueled stories about which movie star had the most mistresses. I saw this morning that the incident was shown on CCTV last night, with an explanation that it wasn’t a Brit who threw the shoe, that the guy was arrested and charged, and that the British govt had apologised.

  • China

    About the search on baidu, I tried to do the search again, typing prime minister got a shoe thrown at him, and lots of lots of articles showed up…wouldn’t the Chinese goverment be so stupid to tell the people that the articles are blocked? if they are indeed HIDING something, wouldn’t it be better to not let any one know it at the first place? just like the western history book saying nothing about the true cause of the opium war and the forced opening of China not so long ago????!!!

  • ArtLover

    CHARTER 8 NEW FUTURE NEW HOPE FOR CHINA

    away with the old system !

  • Peteryang

    it wasn’t a Brit who threw the shoe
    ———————————
    then where is he from????

  • bkgunner

    Don’t be so quick to judge the guy. Maybe he just wanted to say China is a 和鞋 society.

  • http://www.cnreviews.com Kai

    And the winning comment goes to bkgunner!

  • fireworks

    LOL

    Well, The Brits can’t say they are civilized and first class citizens of the world.

    Next time if the British PM goes for a speech in China, maybe the Chinese should throw some chicken shit fruit, pissing prawns and Sanlu milk to vent their anger about foreign devils and imperialist dogs not giving China a fair go.

  • sh

    Shoe throwing is a sign of uncivilised behaviour (regardless of whether you like / dislike the person) and of all places Cambridge is a sign of disrespect to the institution !! (He should be removed from Cambridge, if he is a student at Cambridge)

    To do such a shameless thing to the honorable premier Wen is a sin.

    I do not understand what is up in his head ??

  • Bozo

    sh, yeah locking people up for criticising the government is uncivilised too.

  • Yabo

    Yeah man, this loser threw the shoe at the wrong guy. He should have thrown it at the old man who painted his daughter naked. Wen is so nice! and he doesn’t paint his daughter naked…with great tits.

  • bopomofo

    Ironic that the shoe was probably in China. Hypocrisy at its best.
    For all the “rights” and “wrongs” in this world we should all start looking within ourselves. Go and see for yourselves before jumping to conclusions. I doubt if this shoe-thrower has even set foot in China.

  • bopomofo

    oops, left out the word “made” in China…

  • Pingback: Global Voices Online » China: More reactions to shoeing incident

  • Peteryang

    ANYONE KNOW WHERE IS HE FROM??????

  • Bozo

    I think Germany.

  • Peteryang

    ahhh this is going to make big trouble for the gov coz we just bought some railway shit from germany.

  • http://www.sun-zoo.com/chinageeks/ ChinaGeeks

    @ bkgunner

    bwahahhahaha. bkgunner FTW.

  • Wombadan

    For a more intellectual overview of Wen’s speech, and commentary on it, rather than just the Shoe throwing part, this is quite good:

    http://www.china-briefing.com/news/2009/02/04/china-in-the-light-of-her-development.html

  • Meow

    “I hope that those responses only reflect a small percentage of Chinese because these people are embarrassing their country.”

    I’d say it’s not a small percentage of them that think this way, which is the sad part. Try having a convo with them on anything political. Soon it will be like arguing with a child.

  • Bozo

    Meow, yeah it’s very sad. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve said to a Chinese person, look I don’t disagree with you, I’m just saying doesn’t your opponent’s opinion deserve to be heard as well as yours.

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