‘Very handsome boy’: How our journalist’s video of PM goes viral in China

Anthony Albanese has become an accidental social media sensation in China over an encounter with our journalist that has left some Chinese in disbelief | WATCH THE VIDEO

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wearing a Matildas jersey and Sydney Rabbitohs hat during a walk on the Bund in Shanghai, China. https://twitter.com/wmdglasgow

Anthony Albanese has been dubbed an “old friend” and “very handsome boy” by China’s Premier minutes after the People’s Liberation Army goosestepped and bared bayonets for the Prime Minister in the Great Hall of the People.

In an unexpected twist to Mr Albanese’s final day in China, Li Qiang told the Prime Minister that he had become a social media sensation during his three-night trip.

“There are many sharing short videos about your trip to China … including a video of you running along the river with a yellow jersey.

“People were saying that we have a handsome boy coming from Australia,” Mr Li said.

Bizarrely, the video China’s second most senior leader was talking about was taken by me on Sunday morning when I bumped into the Prime Minister during a run on The Bund in Shanghai.

I posted it on Twitter and shared it with some Chinese friends on WeChat. As with so much information in the People’s Republic of China, it’s gone on quite a journey.

In recents days it has spread all over China’s domestic version of TikTok, Douyin.

The headlines on Chinese news portals give the flavour: “Australian Prime Minister Surprises at the Bund of Shanghai! Interacting with passersby is amazing, and the sports T-shirt is super cool!” read one.

Another said: “Rekindle the friendship between China and Australia! The Australian Prime Minister’s morning run on the Bund in Shanghai immediately made passersby feel friendly.”

The Shanghai Daily claimed the video showed the Prime Minister being “spotted by a netizen”. That’s one way to describe an Australian journalist who can’t get a visa to be based in the PRC.

The truth is, no one but me on The Bund seemed to know what to make of the man in the Rabbitohs cap and Matilda’s World Cup jersey.

“Who was that?” a 20-something asked me after he had passed. And she had studied at an Australian university.

A bit of a surprise to bump into PM @AlboMP during a morning walk along the Bund.

Many Shanghainese couldn’t believe how light his security detail was — or that he would talk to passers by as he did.

“This could never happen in China,” one told me https://t.co/zNexXyNG6rpic.twitter.com/9yVjkRPl8V

— Will Glasgow (@wmdglasgow) November 5, 2023

“I thought this was maybe some actor or an entrepreneur or CEO,” she said.

Another Shanghainese office worker out that morning said she could not believe that a leader would wave and say hello to a passer by. Or that he would be out in public with such a slight security detail.

“This could never happen in China,” she told me in disbelief.

For almost the entirety of this trip, the Chinese public has been kept well away.

On Monday, the Temple of Heaven was closed off for the exclusive use of the visiting Australian delegation as it conducted a Gough Whitlam pilgrimage.

Goodness! It’s getting crowded in the Great Hall of the People. pic.twitter.com/rrTS4UI7QN

— Will Glasgow (@wmdglasgow) November 7, 2023

None of this is a surprise. Our two countries have profoundly different “political systems and values”, as the Prime Minister noted again at the start of Tuesday’s meeting.

That had been made abundantly clear minutes earlier when the People Liberation Army put on a goosestepping, bayonet waving performance for our Prime Minister.

The stomped and strutted around a gigantic room decorated in a style perhaps best described as “dictator chic” — marble floor, ornate roofing, a giant backdrop of the Great Wall.

Then the stern-faced troops were inspected by Mr Li and his “old friend”, Mr Albanese, who looked about as out of place in the weird Soviet-inspired spectacle as you might imagine.

Later, a brass band played “I still call Australia home” and “Click go the shears”.

“It just shows the extent to which our hosts have gone out of their way to show us courtesy and respect,” Mr Albanese said shortly before flying out.

It has certainly been a memorable performance.