The founder of Facebook said that he needed knowledge of Chinese to communicate with his wife’s grandmother

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg (No. 7 on Forbes' list of the 400 richest Americans, worth $40.3 billion) gave his first public speech last weekend in Mandarin, the most popular Chinese language, at Tsinghua University in Beijing. this on Monday, October 26 . reported American Forbes

The entrepreneur demonstrated progress in pronunciation and expanded vocabulary in a new language. Dressed as usual in a gray T-shirt and jeans, Zuckerberg told students why he created the world's largest social network and the company's mission, which keeps him motivated in the most challenging times. The businessman posted a video of his speech with English subtitles on his Facebook page, specifying that this was his “first speech in Chinese.”

The fact that Zuckerberg has been studying Chinese for several years became known in October 2014, when at the same Beijing University (the billionaire sits on the supervisory board of the School of Economics and Management opened at the university), he held a session answering questions from the audience. to his reading list The entrepreneur recently added the Chinese science fiction novel The Three-Body Problem .

According to the Facebook founder, he needs Chinese primarily to communicate with the paternal grandmother of his wife Priscilla Chan. But knowledge of the language also helps in promoting the company’s business interests in China.

In May 2015, Facebook opened a sales office in Beijing to connect local small and medium-sized entrepreneurs with consumers in other regions through the social network. But more than 600 million Internet users from the PRC are de jure unable to use Zuckerberg’s service: since 2009, when opposition activists attempted to use the site as a platform for organizing protests in Urumqi, the PRC authorities have cut off access to Facebook throughout the country.

Faceboook, unlike, for example, LinkedIn, did not make concessions and did not introduce censorship in the Chinese segment. However, Zuckerberg has not given up attempts to establish dialogue all these years. He visited the country several times and met twice with Chinese President Xi Jinping. During his last conversation with the leader of China in Seattle, the billionaire was already communicating in Mandarin. “This was the first time I spoke to a foreign leader in his language,” Zuckerberg described his impressions.

Mark Zuckerberg gave a 20-minute speech in Chinese