June 13th, 2018 | Updated on June 27th, 2022
Ivanka Trump, The US President Donald Trump’s daughter and advisor, left intrigued digital sleuths in the US and China with her tweet.
“Those who say it can not be done, should not interrupt those doing it.’ -Chinese Proverb,” Ivanka Trump posted on Monday, the night before her father and Kim came together to seek an end to a tense decades-old nuclear stand-off.
Social media users are scratching their heads over a “Chinese proverb“. They quickly lit up, puzzled rather than flattered by the reference because to them as such there is no evidence such a pearl of wisdom originated in China.
The alleged misattribution has provoked the proverbial online backlash.
“Our editor really can’t think of exactly which proverb this is. Please help!” the news channel for Sina – the company behind Weibo, China’s largest Twitter-like platform – wrote on its official social media account.
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For the record, this is not a Chinese proverb but a piece of ‘mysterious East’ wisdom made up by Westerners (see next tweet). 1/ https://t.co/HqGnwCI4SP
— Michael Li (@mcpli) June 12, 2018
Those who tweet Chinese proverbs, should not forget to research Chinese proverbs cc Ivanka https://t.co/3RDiXpWVOA
— Miriam Elder (@MiriamElder) June 12, 2018
“This not even remotely an actual Chinese proverb.” – Chinese Proverb https://t.co/d7UiTYvrfS
— Angry Asian Man (@angryasianman) June 11, 2018
“Those who say it can not be done, should not interrupt those doing it.” -Chinese Proverb
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) June 11, 2018
Three minutes of googling suggests this is a fake Chinese Proverb. It seems in fact to be American from the turn of the 20th c.—which makes sense, since its spirit is can-do Americanism. But why are Trump WH aides giving our proverbs to China, increasing our proverb deficit? https://t.co/bqjbZhXlQr
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) June 11, 2018
“Those who say it can not be done, should not interrupt those doing it.” -Chinese Proverb
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) June 11, 2018
“Anything sounds more important with quotation marks and a generic Chinese person saying it.” -Chinese Proverb https://t.co/R5oJVyJ63w
— Jenny Yang ???????????????????????? (@jennyyangtv) June 12, 2018
Everything I say is a Chinese Proverb. https://t.co/R5oJVyJ63w
— Jenny Yang ???????????????????????? (@jennyyangtv) June 12, 2018
Source: BBC