Mark Zuckerberg gives 30-min interview entirely in Mandarin

Mark Zuckerberg has shown that he is bent on courting China, where Facebook has been banned since 2009, by speaking entirely in Mandarin during a 30-minute Q&A session.

According to the International Business Times, China has the world's largest Internet population and Zuckerberg has long stated his desire to enter the China market.

The 30-year-old Facebook CEO uploaded a video clip of the Q&A session held at Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management via his Facebook page on Thursday morning.

Earlier this week, Facebook announced that Zuckerberg had been appointed to the board at the prestigious university. The Q&A session he attended was part of a bigger dialogue held to allow Tsinghua students to speak to the university's board members, many of whom are high-profile business leaders and policymakers.

Zuckerberg said in the session that he still needed more practice. When asked why he decided to learn Mandarin, Zuckerberg said that he wished to communicate with his wife's relatives. His wife, Priscilla Chan, is of Chinese descent and has many relatives who speak only Mandarin.

He also wanted to learn more about Chinese culture and wished to challenge himself as the Chinese language was "very difficult", he said.

He added that he had visited various cities in China, and was a big fan of Jet Li's 2006 movie Fearless.

When asked what his hobbies were outside of Facebook, Zuckerberg said in Mandarin that he had no time for anything other than Facebook.

Showing determination to master the Chinese language, Zuckerberg said he had asked his wife why he was bad at listening in Mandarin. To this, Priscilla responded that his comprehension skills were bad, even when listening to English words.

ljessica@sph.com.sg