Chinese social media outlets lit up after sharp-eyed viewers caught Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg making a cameo appearance on Chinese Police, a documentary series produced by China Central Television (CCTV). Just a few second long, the footage shows Zuckerberg and his new wife Priscilla Chan, strolling the streets of Shanghai in an episode on high-tech crime-solving methods. The bizarre and seemingly unintended cameo appears to have been shot during the billionaire’s March 2012 trip to China.
As Zuckerberg and Chan walk off camera, the narrator warns: "But our nation's police force is far from sufficient." It's unclear whether CCTV producers knowingly inserted Zuckerberg into the shot, though few Internet commenters failed to catch the irony—Facebook is inaccessible in China without a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Commenters quickly took to the message boards of popular microblog Sina Weibo:
创智天地社区: You can block Facebook's invasion, but you cannot block Zuckerberg's infiltration.
Merlot杜樱: The police force is so far from sufficient that the owner of an illegal overseas website and his lover would dare to publicly tail the police.
创业家易涛: There is a miraculous website: it has never operated in China, but always sparks heated discussion amongst Chinese people; it has never operated in China, but has successfully embedded an advertisement on CCTV. Kudos!
MOMOZK: The epitome of celebrity cameos, lol.
活蹦乱跳的草泥马: lol, Zuckerberg looks so curious.
小凡FUN: Why does Zuckerberg always wear the same T-shirt...
Interest in the video in part stems from Zuckerberg's May marriage to Chan, who has become a celebrity in her own right among Chinese netizens. Commenters across the web write enviously of her relationship with the Facebook billionaire. The Beijing News, meanwhile, offered its own take on the match in a piece titled "How Little Fat Girl Tied up Tall, Handsome IT Billionaire".
118岁的兰娜coconut: Damn, I'm sure he was pushed to get married. I talked to my friends about this yesterday. Let's wait and see if they end up getting a divorce, of course I hope it's true love.
Others rushed to Chan's defense:
最好的飞天: Girls who dream of using their pretty faces and hot bodies to find their sugar daddies should wake up: today the most valuable thing is still true love! Look at the plain-looking Chinese girl who married Zuckerberg. She's been with him for nine years, from college boy to billionaire. You need to be with him from the very beginning.
叫AIKO: Many women say that his marriage is a pity, that this tall, handsome billionaire should have found a pretty wife. How despicable! If you were not there to walk through hard times with him, why do you deserve to be with him when he is on the top of the world?
俞筱荻: To the girls who envy Zuckerberg's Chinese wife, don't forget that she is also a Harvard graduate. She had the chance to meet Zuckerberg because she was at Harvard.
Meanwhile, news of their modest wedding sparked outrage over what many consider the materialism of China's nouveau riche. Weibo users praised Zuckerberg, critiquing the extravagant habits and mercenary qualities of his Chinese IT counterparts.
自由投资者michael: Zuckerberg embodies social responsibility. Upstarts here in China would spend millions for one dinner in the blink of an eye. They'd have their toilets made of pure gold. Tacky!