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Comment by _b | Hacker News Reader

Most people in my life with a Phd choose to go by "Mr" as opposed to "Dr". All major news organizations I just checked, including Bloomberg, WSJ, and the BBC, call him "Mr. Xi" and not "Dr. Xi". Do you any evidence he chooses to go by "Dr" as opposed to "Mr"? Because otherwise, I am inclined to assume all the major news sources have it right.

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Yeah, but then again most Western news organisations call Xi the President of China.

[Hint: the Chinese language has a word for President - which they use for Biden, Macron, etc. They don't use it for Xi].

I checked gov.cn, and see it using "Mr. Xi" and "President". For example: https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/wjdt_665385/zyjh_665391/t11...

But maybe I'm not really understand your point. Are you saying there is another English word that would better describe Xi than President, or that English should add one? Are you thinking "President" is insufficient to capture his power, and something like "Dictator" would be better? That has such negative consolidations that I would be hesitant to use it.

> I checked gov.cn, and see it using "Mr. Xi" and "President".

Yip, mainstream media gets it wrong. :)

Here you go: https://qz.com/1112638/xi-jinping-title-xi-jinping-is-not-th...

But yeah, its not a big point to squabble over.

Xi has three titles: general secretary of the CCP, president of China, and another chairman title related to the military (chairman of the CCP is reserved for Mao). The presidency is mainly a ceremonial one that used to be a separate role, most of his power stems from being general secretary of the communist party, so that’s what they use in the Chinese press. Because the Chinese know this wouldn’t translate well into the west, they use the Presidency title in their English press oriented toward foreigners.

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