Keen to replicate the success of state broadcaster CCTV’s recent video featuring foreigners who couldn’t get enough of China’s WWII military parade, government mouthpiece People’s Daily has cobbled together a group of foreign students bewitched, beguiled and bewildered by President Xi Jinping.
Released to coincide with Xi’s visit to the United States, the series of interviews takes you on a whirlwind tour of the capital’s university campuses, profiling a wide array of students lauded online as “desperate for visa renewals.”
Stand-outs from the cast include: a young Japanese woman who dreams of marrying a man like Xi; an American who “would love to read” his copy of Xi’s book; another American who puts on her best sajiao voice to send her love to the chairman; a pair of grown men who confess that they “like [Xi] so much”; and, seared in the minds of viewers forever, an Austrian who gushes that Xi is “so cute.”
