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Meticulously corrected draft of Jack Ma's speech goes viral

By Luo Wangshu (chinadaily.com.cn)

Updated: 2015-09-25 19:03:11

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Meticulously corrected draft of Jack Ma's speech goes viral

Chinese CEO Jack Ma of Alibaba listens to Chinese President Xi Jinping at a US-China business roundtable, in Seattle, Washington September 23, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

An alleged draft of a speech given by Chinese e-commerce tycoon Jack Ma Yun with 26 revisions went viral online, offering a fascinating glimpse into the mind of one of China's most successful entrepreneurs and triggering heated discussions among netizens.

The draft, supposedly in Ma's handwriting, was prepared for Ma's speech at a meeting in the United States which President Xi Jinping attended on Wednesday, at the US-China Business Roundtable in Seattle, which was part of Xi's state visit to the US, Wujienews reported.

"Ma made some very serious revisions," said Deng Qingxu, vice editor-in-chief at Sina.com.cn on his microblog.

Many netizens commented that Ma, founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group, obviously took the speech very seriously.

Ma is well known for his public speaking ability and is seen as "the best public speaker in the IT industry".

Xi also gave a speech at the meeting.

According to the draft, Ma added the phrase "and hold on till now" after saying "I borrowed 20,000 yuan to start my business".

He also added "Chinese love to save money", after the sentence "we always spend money from yesterday, the money we saved".

Thirty CEOs of top companies in China and the US attended the roundtable, including Pony Ma Huateng, chairman and CEO of Tencent and Apple CEO Tim Cook.

The revisions include:

He deleted "distinguished" before addressing Chairman Henry Paulson and fellows.

He added a phrase "and hold on till now" after "I borrowed 20,000 yuan to start my business".

He added "my hometown" in front of "Hangzhou" and the sentence turned out as "43 years ago, US president Nixon visited my hometown Hangzhou".

He added "Chinese love to save money", following the sentence "we always spend money from yesterday, the money we saved".

When speaking of his entrepreneurship experience, Ma added a sentence "Today's global economy is in need of entrepreneurship and the innovative spirit of entrepreneurs".

Ma added "sincerely and honestly" in front of the sentence "negotiation is very necessary and important" when talking about communications between China and US entrepreneurs.