BEIJING – A video of Arabella, 5-year-old granddaughter of Donald Trump, singing “Happy New Year” in Chinese has gone viral on social media in China. Arabella has been taking Chinese lessons.
Ivanka Trump, daughter of the US president, attended a lunar new year party at the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC, with her daughter Arabella as the guest of China’s ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai.
Later, she posted a new video of Arabella performing a song in Mandarin to her Instagram page. “Arabella singing a song she learned for #ChineseNewYear. Wishing everyone an amazing year to come during these days of celebration,” Ms. Trump wrote on her account.
On Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, more than 60,000 people said they liked Arabella’s song. Some of them said they much preferred her to Donald Trump, who has stirred the Chinese-American relationship over Taiwan and the South China Sea, among other controversial orders like ban on citizens from seven Muslim-majority nations.
“The granddaughter is much more sensible,” said one. Another Weibo user noted, “Her Mandarin is perfect.” Some people were more critical: “So you want to get the Chinese off your back with just this song?”
Some web users praised the Trump family for the idea while others said they wanted a greeting from the President Trump himself.
Arabella, being dubbed as ‘friendship messenger’ of Donald Trump, started learning Mandarin when she was just 18 months old.
