If JD Vance was looking for media attention when he spoke to Fox news last Thursday then he probably succeeded beyond his wildest ambitions. While defending president Trump’s insane trade tariffs, the vice-president launched into a tirade against the ‘globalist economy’ which included this gem:

"To make it a little more crystal clear, we borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture.”

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/08/china/china-slams-vance-peasants-remarks-intl-hnk/index.html

This remark has now gone viral on Weibo 微博 -  the Chinese microblogging site -  with some 140 million views, and countless downvotes and negative responses from many commentators, including Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian who replied

“It’s both astonishing and lamentable to hear this vice president make such ignorant and disrespectful remarks.”

JD Vance who in the past proudly embraced his own poverty stricken childhood in rural Appalachia with a 2016 memoir entitled  “Hillbilly Elegy” completely overlooks the fact modern China is a country where factory floors are lined with industrial robots, cities are embracing homegrown electric vehicles and remote counties are connected by a nationwide web of high-speed railways.

The Chinese word for a ‘peasant’ is  农民  nong min which simply means a ‘farmer’. If JD Vance had ever done the slightest research on this subject, then he might have found out that historically speaking 农民   is not a term of reproach in China. The ‘peasants’  are in fact traditionally regarded as the foundation and bed-rock of the entire Chinese social system. It was the 商人 shang ren or merchant class who were always despised and regarded as the lowest of the low in China !

8 minutes ago, toucana said:

If JD Vance was looking for media attention when he spoke to Fox news last Thursday then he probably succeeded beyond his wildest ambitions. While defending president Trump’s insane trade tariffs, the vice-president launched into a tirade against the ‘globalist economy’ which included this gem:

"To make it a little more crystal clear, we borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture.”

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/08/china/china-slams-vance-peasants-remarks-intl-hnk/index.html

This remark has now gone viral on Weibo 微博 -  the Chinese microblogging site -  with some 140 million views, and countless downvotes and negative responses from many commentators, including Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian who replied

“It’s both astonishing and lamentable to hear this vice president make such ignorant and disrespectful remarks.”

JD Vance who in the past proudly embraced his own poverty stricken childhood in rural Appalachia with a 2016 memoir entitled  “Hillbilly Elegy” completely overlooks the fact modern China is a country where factory floors are lined with industrial robots, cities are embracing homegrown electric vehicles and remote counties are connected by a nationwide web of high-speed railways.

The Chinese word for a ‘peasant’ is  农民  nong min which simply means a ‘farmer’. If JD Vance had ever done the slightest research on this subject, then he might have found out that historically speaking 农民   is not a term of reproach in China. The ‘peasants’  are in fact traditionally regarded as the foundation and bed-rock of the entire Chinese social system. It was the 商人 shang ren or merchant class who were always despised and regarded as the lowest of the low in China !

Eh? If peasant is a term of respect in China, why would they be accusing him of being disrespectful?

18 minutes ago, exchemist said:

Eh? If peasant is a term of respect in China, why would they be accusing him of being disrespectful?

Because the Chinese are literate (and subtle) enough to understand that he meant it as a crude insult !

The contrast in traditional Chinese social hierarchy between 农民  and 商人 which I alluded to, was one that existed in Imperial China all the way back to the Tang dynasty (618 - 907) - if not before. The present relationship between the agrarian values of rural China, and their modern high technology industrial base are fairly complex and quite ambivalent at  times - yet one more reason why they don’t appreciate derogatory comments from westerners, and sometime colonial oppressors like JD. Vance.

The contrast in traditional Chinese social hierarchy between 农民  and 商人 which I alluded to, was one that existed in Imperial China all the way back to the Tang dynasty (618 - 907) - if not before.

Maybe beside the point, but while this four occupations categorization goes all the back to the Zhou dynasty and while certain parts of the hierarchy tend to be fairly stable, the esteem for farmers moved a bit around. While they were placed above merchants, they were still considered part of the lower class during Tang. I think (and might misremember) the elevation of farmers coincided somewhat with the decline of aristocracy and the rise of scholar-officials in the following Song period.

Merchants had always and interesting mix as they had significant practical power due their wealth (and had means for social mobility by sponsoring family and other folks to participate in Imperial exams) but despite that, or perhaps because of that, they had low social standing.

I think the Chinese might see it as double insult. One, disregarding the technological standing of China, but also two, the attempt to use the term peasant as an insult. Though I suspect that the latter might be more an issue with older folks as the younger ones,

Maybe beside the point, but while this four occupations categorization goes all the back to the Zhou dynasty and while certain parts of the hierarchy tend to be fairly stable, the esteem for farmers moved a bit around. While they were placed above merchants, they were still considered part of the lower class during Tang. I think (and might misremember) the elevation of farmers coincided somewhat with the decline of aristocracy and the rise of scholar-officials in the following Song period.

Merchants had always and interesting mix as they had significant practical power due their wealth (and had means for social mobility by sponsoring family and other folks to participate in Imperial exams) but despite that, or perhaps because of that, they had low social standing.

I think the Chinese might see it as double insult. One, disregarding the technological standing of China, but also two, the attempt to use the term peasant as an insult. Though I suspect that the latter might be more an issue with older folks as the younger ones,

Yes. I’d agree with all of that.

The Song dynasty (960-1279) was a period of quite violent social transition. It was progressively conquered and pushed southwards, before the surviving members of the royal court were quite literally driven into the sea by the Mongols at the Battle of Yamen.

The attachment that many Chinese still feel to their ancestral roots is seen quite dramatically during the ‘Golden Week’ of the 春節  chun jíe Spring Festival, when many millions of Chinese travel back to their rural villages to celebrate the Chinese New Year with their parents and extended families.

JD Vance is now being mercilessly trolled  by the Chinese government  on  小红书  xiǎo hóng shu  - (‘little red book’) - China’s equivalent to Instagram -  with humorous little animations of Chinese ’peasants’ pointing out that US tariffs will make his eyeliner cost more !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmUs6sL4vwc

Chinese peasants apparently have become both money lenders and manufacturers of electronic components.

That's not disrespectful. Sounds more like ignorance to me. The most dangerous vice in this world is probably a half-arsed sense of security based on what you think you know when you combine it with power.

The Chinese captions in that video use the expression 乡巴佬  xiangbalǎo   - “country bumpkin”  - (lit. ‘countryside - close to - fellow’) to mimic JD Vance’s attempt to use the word ‘peasant’ as an insult.

Chinese peasants apparently have become both money lenders and manufacturers of electronic components.

That's not disrespectful. Sounds more like ignorance to me. The most dangerous vice in this world is probably a half-arsed sense of security based on what you think you know when you combine it with power.

Indeed, it had me scratching my head, it sound's to me like they're being business savy; much like when Trump claimed he was being smart to avoid tax. 😜

Those Chinese peasants aren't doing too badly, in less than a lifetime they have gone from being basically a third world colony to contending for being the biggest economic power in the world.

10 hours ago, npts2020 said:

Those Chinese peasants aren't doing too badly, in less than a lifetime they have gone from being basically a third world colony to contending for being the biggest economic power in the world.

Hmm, I wonder if you'd say the same if you were one of them?

Perhaps, the only difference is the accent of the story teller... 😉