Marco Rubio's new Chinese name | About That

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in China, but China punished him years ago and he's not allowed in China.So we've got this funny situation where Marco Lu Biao is banned, but Marco Lu Biao is okay.He's got two names.Let me explain.One version of Marco Rubio, before he became Secretary of State, while he was a senator, he got China so angry at him that they imposed sanctions on him twice.He criticized China's crackdown on Hong Kong and its treatment of ethnic Uyghurs.

So China slapped him with a travel ban.You're not welcome here.The name on that paperwork, Marco Ma Ke Lu Bi Ao, Okay, quick lesson on Chinese tones.There are four main ones.ma, that means mother.ma, that means hemp.

ma, that means horse.ma, that means to scold.Same syllables, but the way you say them matters.

Tone is very important in the Chinese language just because like each tone represent a different word.For example, like when you write it out, it's very similar in pinyin, but 玩睡觉 means sleeping, while 水饺 means dumplings, so they have completely different meanings.

So years ago, when China first began transliterating Marco Rubio's name, they did what they often do, which is to just do their best with the sounds that they have.The meanings of the sounds don't really matter.So in Mandarin, Canada is 加拿大.Obama is 奥巴马.Taylor Swift would be 泰勒苏维夫特.My Chinese is all garbage, I apologize.

You know, it keeps going.Elon Musk, 埃隆马斯克.Anyways, you get the idea.Marco Rubio, the senator, was Marco Rubio.Emphasis on the, note the rising tone.But Marco Rubio 2 .0, the Secretary of State, is Marco Rubio.

Note the first syllable of his name has changed from Lu to Lu.And the thinking here is that this makes Rubio 2 .0 a whole new man who is technically allowed to set foot in China as Secretary of State while allowing China to maintain its hardline position against Rubio 1 .0 who offended China many years ago.