There is a Chinese saying, 虎父无犬子, which mirrors the old Western adage “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Love him or hate him, it’s tough to argue that the late Mao Zedong wasn’t extremely charismatic and a commanding leader. The same is not as often said about his grandson, Mao Xinyu.

A new Chinese meme illustrates why. The meme, “Major General Genre”, takes a rambling, nonsensical dialog that Xinyu had with a reporter and applies it to different topics, mad libs style.

Here’s the original interview:

Translated by the excellent Ministry of Tofu:

Host: We are now organizing a campaign. It’s about unlicensed teachers. What do you (think of it)?

Mao: Unlicensed teachers…I want to say…Just now, I…well…then…well, my secretary showed me. I want to extend it (the topic). About unlicensed teachers…I want to…here…this…this…I want…just…just not that I want to dodge anything…I want to stress this…Which is to say nowadays those unlicensed teachers, now our country’s this…speaking of this tea…teaching rank, I think, there is a very important part, called private teachers. Just private teachers. This, how to say, I’ve considered…observed for a long time this private teacher thing. A private teacher…how to say…He even…a private teacher from…I think…Technically speaking, he is not a teacher formally certified by the country. He is…that is to say, he is also, as a private teacher…His…well…Of course, his this teaching quality, his this caliber is surely not as good as this formal normal college kind of thing. Of course, this private teacher thing, including this unlicensed teacher thing you’ve mentioned, this problem has indeed become a…a big problem of the education part. This is to say, first, this is to say…In the future, I…I…I…the problem of education, I truly deeply hope that many of this…I hope a large number of, well, private teachers can, through their…effort, their own effort, painstaking study…Um…can improve their own level. I hope many private teachers can become excellent formal teachers. Well, apart from private teachers, well…who hold our education back, I think now most..most people’s general feedback is to say…Don’t simply talk about private teachers. Even our formal teachers who came out from normal college…their, well, cultivation, and their education background, is yet to be improved.

Grandfather and grandson do seem to share a love of hong shao rou.

Discussion

5
  1. He doesn’t look like he’d be too handy in event of war, unless someone was needed to add ballast to the front end of a submarine. Dive, Dive, Dive!

  2. I think this guy was driving my Taxi last night. I had no idea he was drinking. Wow.

    But seriously, you’d think with all his money he could get a suit that fits him? You can get it at the Silk market for like 100 bucks.

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