Summary
China condemned JD Vance on Tuesday for calling Chinese people “peasants” in a Fox News interview, where he said, “To make it a little more crystal clear, we borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry labeled the remarks “ignorant and disrespectful.”
The backlash exploded on Chinese social media, garnering 140 million Weibo views.
Critics mocked Vance’s own “hillbilly” background and pointed to China’s advanced tech and infrastructure, highlighting rising tensions amid Trump’s trade war.
Isn’t hillbilly the American word for peasant? Didn’t JD write a book about that?
Hillbilly refers to mountain folk from the Appalachians. Kinds like Highlanders in Scotland. Rough terrain, no real agriculture, just poverty.
So… peasants. Got it.
Well, a subset of peasants, but maybe not inclusive enough
If you don’t know what a peasant is or does, sure. You can use wrong words for all kinds of stuff, this is the internet.
Condescension makes you seem really, really smart…