in Mandarin he asks Xi if he’ll do the honour

Oh, if that’s the case, with how Zuck’s Mandarin was at the time, he probably asked Xi to “Please call me baby”

why would someone like Zucc want that? does he believe China is what libs think it is, but thinks that’s good actually or what? is he just looking to flex by having power man name baby?

What a fucking weirdo god damn.

Remembering Xi’s favorite American films he probably dislikes Zuck based on the Social Network.

The passage immediately preceding that is also pretty funny:

Xi chooses Seattle, the home of Amazon and Microsoft, to start his visit. Ouch. Vaughan keeps hopes alive of a meeting between Mark and Xi in Seattle, suggesting it will be the time and place where Facebook’s entry into China is announced. Then this is scaled back to a “pull-aside” at a group meeting and no announcement, and finally a “longer than normal handshake,” which Mark is prepared to fly to Seattle for. They’re desperate.
The handshake does happen, but in a particularly galling setting: the Microsoft campus, during Xi’s tour of the facilities. I’m not with them, but watching the video, it’s hard to tell if it’s “longer than normal.” They’re together for less than a minute. In contrast, Xi holds a closed-door meeting with thirty American and Chinese CEOs, including Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook. Mark is not invited. Having invested so much to get this handshake, Mark posts a photo of it on his Facebook page, making it sound like he actually was allowed to attend the meeting with the other CEOs:
“Today I met President Xi Jinping of China at the 8th annual US-China Internet Industry Forum in Seattle. The Forum is an opportunity for CEOs of technology companies to meet with government officials from the US and China to discuss common issues for the future of our industry.”
He adds at the end: On a personal note, this was the first time I’ve ever spoken with a world leader entirely in a foreign language. I consider that a meaningful personal milestone.
But there’s a problem with the photo he posts. It’s from an angle where you see Mark’s face, and the back of President Xi’s head. This is a breach of protocol. I’m not there because I try to avoid all things China. But the moment I see it, I know there’s going to be trouble, and sure enough, panic ensues at forty thousand feet on Mark’s private jet when the Chinese government contacts them over the spotty internet connection to let him know they’re furious about it. Instead of creating a positive first impression with the president of China, they’ve created a diplomatic crisis. We’re banned from China, barred from the meetings with the other tech CEOs, confined to a one-minute handshake, and even that, they’ve screwed up.
Next come agonizing discussions about whether to leave the photo up. But every person on that jet has been on the receiving end of requests to remove embarrassing things from Facebook, and they’re all acutely aware that taking something down can attract way more attention and controversy than simply leaving it up. They continue debating the entire flight, and as they land the realization hits that the photo is already everywhere across the internet. The damage is done. They leave it up.
Two days later, at a state dinner in the White House, Mark gets another chance to speak with Xi. In Mandarin, he asks Xi if he’ll do him the honor of naming his unborn child. Xi refuses.

but most hilarious is the human Chinese wall and I haven’t seen that one shared before, it’s a bunch later in the book:

Part of my pitch for attending APEC was the opportunity for Mark to meet with President Xi of China. By this point, Mark had been trying to meet him formally for years, with no success, and his eagerness to make it happen was only increased by the screw-up in Seattle where Mark posted the photo of the back of Xi’s head. While I didn’t believe in Facebook’s strategy for entering China, I did see value in a meeting between the two, if only as a reality check for Mark.
A formal bilateral meeting wasn’t going to happen. But maybe I could wangle some kind of “spontaneous encounter” or “pull-aside.”
To achieve a spontaneous encounter, I had to get Mark in close proximity to President Xi. State dinners were obviously out after our experience in Panama. And President Xi, like the pope, wasn’t going to come to Mark. But I was able to negotiate Mark a slot for a keynote speech right before President Xi’s keynote speech and convince APEC to make the “connectivity revolution” the theme. Even more important, I was able to secure dressing rooms next to each other. This gives us the best opportunity in years for Mark and Xi to meet. We game out different ways of making it happen, rehearse multiple times what to say, and get to the venue unreasonably early to give us as much time as possible to make the connection. I’m primed and ready to be wingman again, only this time without the mojitos.
When our security team lets us know that Xi is on his way, we move outside our dressing room, into the cavernous event space, poised for our “spontaneous” encounter. Mark braces himself—ready for one of the more consequential moments of his career—as Xi’s security detail arrives. It’s a phalanx of men, in identical gray uniforms, marching in formation past us. Mark stares in disbelief, mouth open. They just keep coming, dozens and dozens of them. It’s almost comical. Just when you think there could not be any more, more step in.
As Xi approaches, the thick line of men moves into a formation. They create an impenetrable dividing line between his dressing room and ours, one that stretches all the way down the hall to the entrance. A human Chinese wall.
President Xi is so obscured that he doesn’t even have to risk making eye contact with Mark. The troops are now still and silent enough that we can hear Xi’s footsteps as he goes by. Soon he’s safely ensconced in his dressing room and the door is shut, and the human wall silently files out, leaving Mark, me, and the rest of the small Facebook group loitering outside the dressing room wondering what we just witnessed.
I find it hard not to admire Xi for so completely outmaneuvering us. The Chinese clearly went to the organizers just like I did and asked, “Where will the president be backstage? Who else will be around?” And when they learned it would be Mark Zuckerberg, they took serious precautions. I’m about to compliment their foresight and their sheer commitment—the boots on the ground—that made that happen. I’ve never seen anything like it. But then I realize Mark’s feelings are hurt. His pride is wounded. He’s not used to people avoiding him so overtly.
“Uh, I guess that pull-aside isn’t going to happen,” he laments awkwardly. No one knows what to say in response.

bestow your favour upon my firstborn

“Waaah, waaah!”

'Awww, Welcome to the world, Gofuckyourself Zuckerberg!"

“Name them yourself you useless hack!”

(I’d make one hell of a head of state that’s for sure lol.)

Was this the one from like ten years ago or did he ask again?

tbf i would ask Xi to name my next rpg character. naming is the worst part of creation by far.

“Communismwillwin Zuckerberg”

Should’ve named it Beanis.

carl mark zuckerberg