Mark Zuckerberg and China: A history

Sometimes you just need a good jog. Image credit: Facebook.

Mark Zuckerberg has a connection with China that goes much deeper than a standard business relationship. Zuck has traveled to the country quite a bit over the last half-decade, and it’s made headlines every time.

Treat this as your “Zuck and China 101” course – a refresher on the Facebook CEO’s history with the People’s Republic.

2009-2010: The early days

Facebook was blocked in China in the summer of 2009. By the time the censor’s hammer swung down, Zuckerberg had never made a visit to the country as CEO.

That changed in 2010. Mark first came to China in December of that year on what was technically a “vacation.” But it wasn’t exactly a relaxing trip – Zuck met with CEOs of leading Chinese web services like Sina and Baidu, and the telecom giant China Mobile.

Zuckerberg was accompanied on his China trip by Priscilla Chan, his then-girlfriend and now-wife, who is the American daughter of ethnically Chinese refugees from Vietnam.

The visit caused the internet on both sides of the Great Firewall to completely lose its mind. Was Facebook coming back to China? Was Baidu acquiring Facebook? Was Facebook going to compete with Renren? The answer to those and many other eager questions was: No. The visit was not some harbinger of huge things to come – although it was the start of a beautiful friendship.

So it begins…

2010 also marked the year when Mark set a personal goal for himself: to learn Mandarin Chinese. He did so as part of a New Year’s resolution (solar New Year, not lunar, by the way), in a post that got some 25,000 likes. He noted that “I have had a hard time learning languages in the past, so this seemed like a particularly good challenge.” He added that he wanted to be able to communicate with members of Priscilla’s family who only speak Chinese.

2011-2013: Quiet times

In early 2011, Facebook put a lot of China rumors to rest, saying “we have no plans right now to talk about entering into mainland China.” (Just kidding; the rumors never die.)

The following year, Zuckerberg returned to the mainland, where he was spotted in Shanghai with Priscilla. The New York Times headline was literally “Zuckerberg in China: Let the Rumors Begin.”

In China, “rumor mongering” is a censorable offense.

2014-2015: OMG中文!!

Late 2015-Present: Taking China seriously