beyondBeijing2008.com

Chinese netizens went into somewhat of a tizzy last week when they discovered their president had set up an account on the microblogging section of www.people.com.cn, the Web portal of the People’s Daily, the official mouthpiece of Communist Party of China.

With no advance notice or publicity, his name and title attracted tens of thousands of followers in just a few hours. Not that Hu Jintao, also known as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, was sitting at desktop typing away — the photo of President Hu was a default cartoon figure, and there were no posts under his account.

Despite the blankness of the president’s “scarf” (the word “scarf” is used as a shorthand for “microblog” because they sound the same in Chinese), fans expressed their opinions in thousands of posts. Some wished the president a happy new year, some wanted direct communication, and some conveyed disappointment.

A user called Wine Red Ice Blue expressed impatience: “Let all of us just say something to Brother Hu … we are all waiting!” Many others also left messages saying they are anxious to read Hu’s first post.