Chinese tech firm Xiaomi apologises for joke suggesting it didn’t want to hire Japanese-language students
HR representative takes ‘full responsibility’ for remark made at recruitment fair that led to some people walking out of presentation
Chinese tech firm Xiaomi has apologised for a joke about Japanese-language students made by one of its representatives at a university recruitment fair.
On Saturday Henan Daily reported that Xiaomi’s human resources representative Qin Tao told a room full of students at Zhengzhou University in Henan province: “If you’re an English or Arabic major, you can come join us because they are our overseas markets.
“If you’re majoring in Japanese, you should leave.”
The report said most of the 200 students present at the talk on Friday laughed at the comment, but Li Min, who is studying Japanese at the university, left the presentation with her coursemates because she found Qin’s statement offensive.
“We are all adults, and we are not stupid either,” she was quoted as saying.
Word of the incident quickly spread to social media, where users of the popular microblog Weibo posted messages asking Xiaomi chief executive Lei Jun to explain the remarks.