Ivanka Trump Tweets “Chinese Proverb”, Confuses Chinese Netizens

With the eyes of the world on Singapore this week, Ivanka Trump took to Twitter to quote some ancient Chinese wisdom in support of her father:

“Those who say it can not be done, should not interrupt those doing it.” -Chinese Proverb

— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) June 11, 2018

Lovely. Slight problem though: no one in China seems to know which proverb she’s referring to.

Ivanka is actually fairly popular in China, thanks to her perceived businesswoman savvy and having a kid who is wheeled out to sing in Mandarin when the occasion demands. Naturally, her tweeting out a “Chinese proverb” has garnered plenty of attention in the country and #Ivanka Chinese Proverb# has attracted hundreds of thousands of views on Sina Weibo in the past 24 hours.

Chinese netizens have been offering up both genuine attempts at re-translation and, naturally, plenty of joke responses. One thing seems to be uniting them all however: a pervading sense of WTF?

Some of the top-rated comments on Weibo so far include user Haierkate, attempting to pass off some modern-day internet slang as ancient wisdom:

U can u up，no can no BB。”

and Fafeng de Huli looking to history and a famed Chinese writer and thinker for inspiration:

‘You can’t just say that something is a Chinese proverb simply because it sounds a bit Chinese’ – Lu Xun

Thankfully, back on Twitter, so often a sanctuary of positive energy and impeccable manners, everyone has responded politely and without mocking Ms Trump in the slightest. A couple of choice examples:

"You can call any old shit a Chinese proverb on the internet."
–Confucius https://t.co/lCcBwtKm5g

— Brendan O'Kane (@bokane) June 11, 2018

"A family's wealth doesn't survive past three generations" — actual Chinese Proverb 富不过三代 https://t.co/tT4zEpBZ5s

— Eric Hu (@_EricHu) June 11, 2018

And then there’s this take from Michael Li:

A bit of context for the ‘quote’ —> https://t.co/83GIuQM5er 2/ pic.twitter.com/rCNdyBySM8

— Michael Li (@mcpli) June 12, 2018

There’s plenty of wisdom and insight in Asian philosophy, culture, religious systems, etc.

It would be nice if more people had actual knowledge and appreciation of it instead of relying on made up things like this. 3/

— Michael Li (@mcpli) June 12, 2018

Usually around this time of year, netizens in China are poring over questions from the gaokao college entrance exams, but it seems Ivanka’s tweet might be even more of a head scratcher right now.

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