Frenzied debate over tweet

THE Chinese tweet of Elon Musk has kept the Chinese public busy for many days in their quest to figure out his intention for posting the four-line ancient poem created over 1,800 years ago.

On Nov 2, the Tesla boss posted the poem, dubbed The Quatrain of Seven Steps, on Twitter.

He wrote the headline “Humankind” in English before quoting the verses in Chinese, which used beans and its stalks to describe the disputes among brothers.

The same post was shared on Sina Weibo, Chinese Twitter-like microblogging site, where he has nearly 1.91 million followers.

Musk, however, only follows four top executives of Tesla China and the company’s official page. (Those in mainland China have no access to Twitter.)

Netizens were all excited – the poem is not new to them as it is in their primary school’s Chinese language textbook about the importance of getting along.

Posts with the hashtag “Musk posts the Seven Steps Verse in Chinese” was read 180 million times.The poem is believed to have been written by Cao Zhi, the third son of popular warlord Cao Cao (155-220) in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

When Cao Pi reigned the Kingdom of Wei in the Three Kingdom period (220-280), he considered his talented little brother Cao Zhi a threat to his throne.

In an attempt to kill his brother, he asked him to compose a poem within seven footsteps to describe their relationship but must not use the words xiongdi (brother).

Upon completing his steps, Cao Zhi recited: “Burning the stalks to cook the beans, the beans are weeping in the pot, originally born of the same root, why should they incinerate each other in a hurry”.

Netizens were engaged in debates with some believing that one of the world’s richest man was referring to the rivalry between cryptocurrencies Dogecoin and Shiba Inu.

“Bean is pronounced as ‘dou’ in Mandarin which sounds like ‘doge’,” they cited.

Some guessed that the entrepreneur might be concerned over the rising tense relations between China and Taiwan.

They speculated that Musk – who is also the founder of SpaceX – was hinting on his heated exchanges with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) executive director David Beasley.

Beasley had earlier called on Musk to donate US$6bil (RM24.92bil, equivalent to 2% of his wealth) to help fight starvation.

This conjecture arose following a post of Musk on Weibo that read: “If WFP could detail exactly how the money will solve world hunger, I will immediately sell Tesla stock and donate the sum.

“But the organisation should reveal its account, let the public see clearly how the money is spent.”

Musk had made a similar response on Twitter last month but the Chinese version was only posted on Weibo soon after the publication of his Chinese poem.

Another netizen jokingly assumed that the Tesla boss might not understand its meaning but just pretending to be a cultured person.

One netizen suggested that Musk should title his post “Humanbeans” instead of “Humankind”.

“I think he is tapping into the cultural industry next” and “Humankind is a game and he is sharing his experience playing it” were among the posts.

Meanwhile, Tesla has built a research base and a data analysing centre in Shanghai, its first outside the United States.

Making an announcement late last month, the company said both facilities would be put into use soon.

“The goal of Tesla’s team in China is to design, develop and produce new vehicle models and products with Chinese cultural elements and sell them globally,” reported China Daily based on a statement from the electric carmaker.

The newly-built data centre would store the company’s operation data such as the local production, sales and after service, Musk revealed, citing the importance of data security as vehicles are becoming smart and autonomous.

“Data security is not only the responsibility of any single company but also the cornerstone of the whole industry development.

Tesla has also in a recruitment notice said it would employ engineers for software, electronics, materials and charging for the new facilities.

It had in 2019 opened its giga factory, also its first vehicle manufacturing plant overseas in the same Chinese city.

The factory has an annual production capacity of 450,000 vehicles, of which a big chunk is catered for overseas market.

Smart vehicles with sensors and operating systems are gaining in popularity worldwide.

In China, the world’s largest vehicle market, some 15% of vehicles sold last year came with smart and autonomous functions.