China's President to Capitol Hill
PHILLIPS: The Chinese President Hu Jintao spends day three in the U.S. on Capitol Hill after a day at the White House. Yesterday, the Chinese government has produced an ad which is running on a giant billboard in Times Square and on U.S. television. Take a look.</s>PHILLIPS: Eve Bower joining us from CNN International. There are some back in China who are actually upset by the ad. So, let's talk about the controversy that it's creating. What's the story on this campaign? What's the back story?</s>EVE BOWER, CNN INTERNATIONAL: So, this ad is not running on Chinese TV. It's definitely created for an American audience. But it has gone viral on the Chinese Internet and lots of people are commenting. There are plenty of negative comments and some positive as well.</s>PHILLIPS: So what are people saying? What are the positive comments? What are the negative comments?</s>BOWER: I think from the positive side, there's definitely a patriotism -- a nationalism pride in all that China has accomplished were just highlighted in that ad. On the negative side, I think some people feel like part of the people who are focused on this ad have become American and they're no longer Chinese. So, a bit of maybe frustration that they get to paint China's image. Well, and put that in perspective for us, because there are a lot of people in China that go online and a lot of Chinese Americans here that go online on. But you'll find, depending on where you live, you don't always get all of the information you're looking for.</s>BOWER: Absolutely. As you know, in China, there is the great fire wall which makes Internet access a little bit more difficult than it is outside of China. So, within China, there are Chinese versions of Twitter and Google. And on those Web sites, people comment very actively and say all kinds of things. But one thing I noticed this morning, I was looking for sort of the social media reaction to President Hu's visit. And the search term Hu Jintao, which is the president of China, is blocked. If you search Hu Jintao on the Chinese Twitter, Sina.com (ph), you will find, according to the Chinese law, these results cannot be displayed.</s>PHILLIPS: Interesting. All right. I want to give our viewers our a little perspective here because they're thinking, what does this blond-haired, blue-eyed, beautiful Saint Pauli girl know about China? Well, here's what unique about Eve. She lived and worked in China. You are fluent in Chinese. When I hear you speak Chinese, it's mind- blowing. Just to give us kind of a perspective. What was it like when you first got there? How did the Chinese respond to you? And especially when they found out you were totally bilingual?</s>BOWER: Well, when I first got there, it was 2001. And China had officially been opened at that point, for more than 20 years. But Westerners were still kind of a novelty, even in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai. So people walking down the street would ask to touch my hair or strangers would ask to take pictures with me. And there was a sincere curiosity and a desire to connect. Many people are never seen a non- Chinese person in their lives.</s>PHILLIPS: So, that's interesting. You say that there was a lot of curiosity, and because of censorship and a lot of the things there in China. You actually had an interesting interaction with someone who is selling things on the street one day behind the -- tell us about that.</s>BOWER: So, this is in the days right after September 11th. And I think sort of in a way that's similar in the United States. This lack of exposure has allowed some negative stereotypes to sort of persist. And in China, there is certainly a current of anti-American sentiment in certain pockets. And this man saw me, determined that I was an American, and said "Bin Laden is my hero." And as sort of surprising as that was, I think it created an opportunity for dialogue. And I realized, in retrospect, he had never interacting with an American in his life. And putting that very human face and a human interaction on that abstract notion of America really changed his mind.</s>PHILLIPS: So, when you walked by the next day, what did he say?</s>BOWER: He was introducing me. This is Eve or</s>PHILLIPS: Isn't that amazing?</s>BOWER: Total 180.</s>PHILLIPS: So, great to have the perspective from you. All right. Now, before we go to break, just so -- how about we do this? We've got this -- well, OK, no, I'm not going to put you on the spot and make you read the tease in Chinese. But how about this? How about looking in the camera and just say, "More news coming up from the CNN NEWSROOM and more coverage on President Hu Jintao's visit"?</s>BOWER: This one?</s>PHILLIPS: Yes.</s>BOWER: OK.</s>PHILLIPS: There you go! Eve Bower, I love it! One of our stars on the international desk -- thanks so much to you. Great perspective.</s>BOWER: Thank you, Kyra.</s>PHILLIPS: Also, we're talking about Wal-Mart has a plan to cut prices on fruits and vegetables, cut fat and sugar content in its food brand. The first lady is joining company execs for this morning's announcement. We'll have it for you. And Ellen DeGeneres' 6 million Twitter followers received a pretty startling tweet. You may remember, British comedian Ricky Gervais ripping into the Hollywood types during the Golden Globes hosting stint? And now, from Golden Globes to golden clothes. Guess what Ellen did? Oh, yes, she gave him a little something special and you're going to see it.