Chinese users occupy President Obama's Google+ page

Summary: Chinese users have taken to flooding President Barack Obama's Google+ page with requests for aid, thoughts on current events, and flattery.

Apparently taking advantage of loosening security in the country's comprehensive Great Firewall of censorship, Chinese citizens have flocked to President Barack Obama's Google+ page to leave a veritable flood of comments, most flattering.

It's not exactly clear why or when the Chinese government opened Google+ to citizens, or why these new users have chosen President Obama's official reelection campaign page as their rallying point. But the comments come in waves, and most posts to the page quickly hit the maximum limit of 500 comments. And as you may expect, most of these comments have been left under what appear to be pseudonyms.

English-language website ChinaSMACK translated several of the comments, but due to high traffic, the site's availability has been sporadic. Fortunately, the Washington Post rounded up several of the most representative comments left by Chinese users:

  • “Dear President Obama, when will you send troops to liberate China?”
  • “Mr. President, we long for America's freedom."
  • “Hello Mr. President, I am Chinese. I hope that when you are dealing with the Chinese government that you won’t only focus on economic interests. The people here also need freedom and democracy. We need a free internet and a safeguarded life that is not too hard. Hope you can do your best to help us, thank you.”
  • “Obama, you do not contribute to world peace, but earlier get the Nobel peace prize, do not you feel ridiculous?”

As you can see, the comments range from fawning to mischievous to thoughtful. More than a few ask for a Green Card or American citizenship. And, of course, there are a few Americans who resent these Chinese users posting in their native language as opposed to English - or who simply use it as an opportunity for sarcasm.
The Chinese news media has been tracking these Google+ occupiers, and it doesn't appear that the flood is going to level off any time soon. Facebook may have more of the social networking market than Google+, but apparently China sees a lot of value in the platform as a means of communication with the world outside the Great Firewall.

Topics: China, Apps, Google, Security, Social Enterprise

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15 comments
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  • ...

    <i>"here are a few Americans who resent these Chinese users posting in their native language as opposed to English"</i>

    {Sarcasm} Damn it, don't these Chinese know that the internet was invented by America, and therefore they should speak American! ;)

    Leave it to Faux News watchers to hate on other languages.... Here's a tip, want a good job, learn another language, foreign markets are important to businesses, if you can speak the language you have a leg up on the competition.
    Snooki_smoosh_smoosh
    • Internet invented by America?

      Hmmm ... that's a bit tenuous ..... I guess strictly speaking when 'The Internet' was ARPANET then yeah, fair enough. If you think of what most people call 'The Internet' (world wide web) then that accolade goes to Sir Tim Berners Lee a British scientist.... oh and also for reference, you speak English :D

      I'm only messing with ya .... Chinese, American, English .... let's all share the love and just be Earthian Citizens
      Mouseboy007
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  • No, no, no...

    I didn't say "Occupy Obama" I said "Occupy 'Bama" as in [i]Alabama[/i]... crazy Chinese G+ users... gotta love 'em! LOL

    Seriously though why all the hate for those users posting in their own language? Obama I'm sure has someone who can translate Chinese on his staff...
    athynz
  • ??????????????????????????????????????????flood??????????????????

    Obama???G+????????????comments????????????flood????????????????????????
    ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

    ???????????????????????????
    ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
    When will you American pay back the money to Chinese???
    gloval
  • ??????????????????????????????????????????flood??????????????????

    Obama???G+????????????comments????????????flood????????????????????????
    ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

    The most important word:
    ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
    When will you American pay back the money to Chinese???
    gloval
  • ObamaG+commentsflood

    LZSB
    leeluntanzhuce
    • As in 9527?

      Seems like we also have lots of Chinese readers here on ZDNet~
      cym104
  • ??????

    ??????
    liweiye520
  • xian shi bu chu lai???

    xian shi bu chu lai???
    liweiye520
    • re: cannot display

      ZDNet accpets only english characters
      cym104
  • re

    I feel so lucky that can read both chinese and english. Actually, most chinese comments are meaningless. For example, SF just means " I am the first one to write comment here". Also, chinese people like to write comments at 1st, 10th, 50th or 100th etc. So, you can always see some comments only the number.
    tjqzxzx
  • "requests for aid, and flattery" -- hahahaha

    You guys really need to take some serious Chinese 101 lesson... instead of relying on Google Translation... Or you will be the joke...

    "It???s not exactly clear why or when... " Not even understanding you are talking about... and yet brave enough to create a post like this? Go home, do your homework and figure out what's going on...
    MacArthur2
  • It will do anything for you

    A mysterious phenomenon detected by space probes has finally been explained, thanks to a massive computer simulation that was able to precisely align with details of spacecraft observations. The finding could not only solve an astrophysical puzzle, but might also lead to a better ability to predict high-energy electron streams in space that could damage satellites. Jan Egedal, an associate professor of physics at MIT and a researcher at the Plasma Science and Fusion Centre, working with MIT graduate student Ari Le and with William Daughton of the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), report on this solution to the space conundrum in a paper published Feb. 26 in the journal Nature Physics.Egedal had initially proposed a theory to explain this large-scale acceleration of electrons in Earth's magnetotail -- a vast and intense magnetic field swept outward from Earth by the solar wind -- but until the new data was obtained from the computer simulation, "it used to be people said this was a crazy idea," Egedal says. Thanks to the new data, "I don't get that anymore," he says.. I thank you Firozali A.Mulla DBA
    famulla
  • ridiculous

    The news???Dear President Obama, when will you send troops to liberate China????
    is absolutely not true... We Chinese love peace, against war. How could we ask you Americans to fight with us? How ridiculous it is !
    I'm a Chinese