China has strongly criticized U.S. Vice President JD Vance for using the term “peasants” to describe the Chinese people during a recent interview.
This comment has sparked significant anger and mockery on Chinese internet platforms, with many drawing comparisons between Vance’s remark and his own description of his “hillbilly” roots.
Vance made the controversial statement last Thursday while speaking on Fox News, where he defended President Donald Trump’s tariffs and criticized the “globalist economy.”
“What has the globalist economy gotten the United States of America? And the answer is, fundamentally, it’s based on two principles – incurring a huge amount of debt to buy things that other countries make for us,” Vance told news show “Fox & Friends.”
“To make it a little more crystal clear, we borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture.”
Asked about Vance’s comments at a regular news briefing Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said: “It’s both astonishing and lamentable to hear this vice president make such ignorant and disrespectful remarks.”
Video clips of JD Vance’s interview have recently spread across the Chinese internet, triggering a strong negative reaction.
This is particularly notable in a nation where advanced industrial robots are commonplace in factories, cities are rapidly adopting domestically produced electric vehicles, and even remote rural areas are connected by an extensive network of high-speed railways.
“This true ‘peasant’ who came out of rural America seems to have a lack of perspective,” said Hu Xijin, the influential former editor-in-chief of state-run tabloid Global Times, in a post on microblogging site Weibo. “Many people are urging him to come and see China for himself.”
The hashtag related to JD Vance’s comments became the most popular trending topic on the Chinese social media platform Weibo on Monday night.
By Tuesday afternoon, the hashtag had accumulated 140 million views.
“Look, this is their true face — arrogant and rude as always,” said a comment with 2,900 likes.
“We may be peasants, but we have the world’s best high-speed rail system, the most powerful logistics capabilities, and leading AI, autonomous driving, and drone technologies. Aren’t such peasants quite impressive?” another said.
Many people pointed out the irony of JD Vance’s comments, considering his own working-class background as detailed in his 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.”
In the book, Vance recounts a childhood marked by poverty, abuse, and his mother’s struggle with drug addiction, much of which was spent in Appalachia, a region he felt had been neglected by affluent elites.
Vance, who transitioned from venture capitalism to politics, saw his book become a sensation following Donald Trump’s initial presidential victory.
It was widely interpreted as an attempt to explain Trump’s popularity among the white working class.
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