April Fool’s day is no joke to the Chinese government.
The Chinese state media, Xinhua, issued a statement today on its official Weibo page frowning upon the participation of pranks and jokes that is April Fool’s day. The government-controlled media agency announced its stance against the holiday as an “anti-China” and “anti-socialist” tradition. The statement read:
“April Fool’s Day is not in keeping with our national cultural tradition or socialist core values. Please do not believe, create or spread rumors.”
According to Shanghaiist, Chinese netizens were quick to comment on Xinhua’s position. A user wrote:
“In the West, it only happens one day a year; however, in certain Asian countries, it is every day, every year.”
Another person echoed a similar sentiment:
“The media is publishing false news to fool people every single day, what difference is one more.”
Others had a more comical response. One netizen proclaimed:
“This is the best April Fool’s Day joke yet.”
Another netizen laughed it off and wrote:
“I never knew Xinhua had a sense of humor.”
Following the Xinhua Weibo post, thousands of satirical comments flooded the internet. The media agency eventually disabled comments on its post.
Whether the post was a hoax or not is hard to tell — some may just take their jokes too seriously.
