China's Interpreter Stole The Show At The U.S. - China Summit In Alaska

 

What's On Weibo: The Online Hit of the China-US Meeting in Alaska: Interpreter Zhang Jing 

While the China-US meeting is all the talk, it is interpreter Zhang Jing who has hit the limelight. 

It probably was not easy to translate the tough talks at the high-level meeting between the U.S. and China in Anchorage. Chinese female translator Zhang Jing became an online hit in China for remaining unflustered, graceful, and accurate. 

Over the past days, the U.S.-China strategic talks in Anchorage have been a major topic of discussion on Chinese social media. The first major U.S.-China meeting of the Biden administration ended on Friday, March 19. Despite the tense start of the meeting and some describing the talks as a “diplomatic clash,” China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi (杨洁篪) called the meeting “frank, constructive and helpful,” New York Times reports. 

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Update #1: ‘China’s Most Beautiful Interpreter’ becomes an internet hit (SCMP) 

Update #2: Chinese female translator at China-US talks showing ‘her power’ applauded by Chinese netizens (Global Times) 

WNU Editor: There is something about the Chinese Foreign Affairs University when it comes to their female translators. 

When I worked in China in the 1980s the Chinese foreign ministry assigned what I would argue is the best looking lady in China as my interpreter. And I learned on the first day that they are excellent at their job. In my case she was fluent in Russian AND English, and I noticed that my Chinese hosts were also enamored by here. In fact. I sometimes wondered if she had them wrapped around her little finger.

But it was a job that did not paid well. My translator was only earning about $1 - $2 USD a day (in the mid 1980s). I ending up paying her multiple times her salary. I did not want to lose her. It was an investment that ended up being paid back multiple times. The doors that this very young and small translator (she was only 5 feet tall) opened for me in China in the 1980s were and are incalculable.

Today. Translators in China are paid extremely well. 

As for my old translator. She is one of my oldest friends in China, and she still translates/works for the Foreign Ministry in a senior position. When I need her help in translation she is always available, and when I visit China I always make a point of seeing her and her family. 

One interesting side note. Yang Jiechi who led the Chinese delegation in Alaska is China's senior diplomat, and a member of the Chinese 25 member Politburo. He is also fluent in English. LOL. He did not need an interpreter at this meeting.