Zuckerberg’s dumplings

If tteokguk (rice cake soup) is New Year’s food for Koreans, it would be jiaozi (dumplings) for Chinese. Jiaozi sounds the same as the word for a point where an old year and a new year meets. Chinese call the Korean mandu as jiaozi and what Koreans call mandu (mantou in Chinese) refers to a steamed bun in China. On New Year’s Day, Japanese eat zoni, a miso soup with sticky rice cakes. So much difference in New Year traditions.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a photo of making dumplings with Priscilla Chan, his Chinese American wife, in the kitchen on the New Year’s Day on last Saturday, which grew hugely popular. He also posted a photo of two dumplings, “I bet you can't guess which ones were mine.” The rolling pin, and traditional Chinese dishes and chopsticks in the photo reflect a strong Chinese tradition. Over one million users liked the photo and the posting was shared by more than 24,000 times.

Zuckerberg in his signature short-sleeved T-shirt makes dumplings joyfully with his wife wearing a large cardigan. For the photo with the couple focusing on cooking without someone else’s help in an ordinary kitchen, one Internet user wrote, “I love how they are so normal even though they are so wealthy!” His understanding of the Chinese culture is attributable to his wife. He impressed the Chinese people when he gave a speech in Chinese for 22 minutes at Tsinghua University in China in 2015.

Like the couple who made dumplings on the Lunar New Year’s Day, diversity and inclusion are the power that supports the American society. U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration is dealing a heavy blow to companies in Silicon Valley including Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon. Diversity is an important value in Silicon Valley. “My great grandparents came from Germany, Austria and Poland," Zuckerberg wrote. "Had we turned away refugees a few decades ago, Priscilla's family wouldn't be here today.” Priscilla’s parents were refugees from China and Vietnam. He might have intended to criticize Trump with the dumpling picture.