File photo of Chinese President Xi Jinping with US President Barack Obama (Associated Press photo)
Beijing:
A letter by a nine-year-old Chinese school boy suggesting President Xi Jinping to lose weight created a flutter and was hastily pulled out of the official media apparently at the instance of the propaganda department.
The suggestion by Niu Ziru, a grade four student at the Best International School in Zhengzhou, was part of a letter about the space industry that he wrote but never sent to Xi for a school essay project, the Zhengzhou Evening News reported.
Addressing Xi as "Xi Dada", a close term for an older man, Ziru said China should plan a mission to Mars.
"The United States and Russia - even the European Union and India - are all planning to land on Mars. Let's hurry up," Ziru wrote.
He then changed the topic to what he thought was a "lighter subject" by saying "Xi Dada, you could lose some weight. [You] don't have to look as slim as [US President Barack] Obama. It's all right to look like [Russian President Vladimir] Putin."
The letter was not sent but Ziru's father found it amusing and shared a photograph of it on WeChat.
The letter was then forwarded by internet users and the Zhengzhou Evening News picked it up and ran a story on it. There is no word on what Xi thought of the suggestion but one thing is for sure - the propaganda machine did not find it amusing, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.
The newspaper's report, which was carried widely by mainland media, was later withdrawn from the newspaper's digital editions and various other major outlets, including Xinhua, it said.
The suggestion by Niu Ziru, a grade four student at the Best International School in Zhengzhou, was part of a letter about the space industry that he wrote but never sent to Xi for a school essay project, the Zhengzhou Evening News reported.
Addressing Xi as "Xi Dada", a close term for an older man, Ziru said China should plan a mission to Mars.
"The United States and Russia - even the European Union and India - are all planning to land on Mars. Let's hurry up," Ziru wrote.
He then changed the topic to what he thought was a "lighter subject" by saying "Xi Dada, you could lose some weight. [You] don't have to look as slim as [US President Barack] Obama. It's all right to look like [Russian President Vladimir] Putin."
The letter was not sent but Ziru's father found it amusing and shared a photograph of it on WeChat.
The letter was then forwarded by internet users and the Zhengzhou Evening News picked it up and ran a story on it. There is no word on what Xi thought of the suggestion but one thing is for sure - the propaganda machine did not find it amusing, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.
The newspaper's report, which was carried widely by mainland media, was later withdrawn from the newspaper's digital editions and various other major outlets, including Xinhua, it said.
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