Yesterday Ivanka Trump was doing her best to hype the meeting between Donald Trump and murderous North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. From Singapore, she shared a “Chinese proverb” with her followers on Twitter:
One problem … nobody can find the origin of this so-called ancient proverb. And when we say nobody can find it, that includes millions of Chinese who’ve been searching high and low. From NPR:
After a thorough search of the Analects of Confucius, Taoist texts and everything in between, nothing definitive has come up. But that hasn't stopped millions of Chinese social media users from making wild guesses like these, straight from Weibo, one of China's most popular social media sites:
- 临渊羡鱼不如退而结网 — It's better to knit a fishnet instead of standing by the river and hoping for fish.
- 观棋不语真君子 — Don't give advice while watching others playing a chess game.
- 勿以善小而不为 — Don't ignore small acts of kindness simply because they seem trivial.
- 己所不欲，勿施於人 — Don't force others to do things you don't want to do yourself.
- 吃不到葡萄说葡萄酸 — If you haven't tasted the grapes, don't say they're sour.
As you might imagine, her tweet is also being widely mocked by the Chinese.
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ancient Chinese proverb: "Only a fool would lie on the internet." circa 900 b.c. lol
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