New York City Mayor Mamdani recently uploaded a Chinese-language promotional video on social media, encouraging New York high school students to enjoy Broadway musicals for free. This video, praised by many Mandarin speakers and learners for its precise pronunciation—even using retroflex sounds—has attracted millions of views and sparked heated discussions across platforms.
According to Central News Agency reports, in order to promote the city government's raffle of 2,000 free Broadway tickets to local high school students, Mamdani recorded both English and Chinese promotional messages, with the 40-second Chinese segment receiving widespread acclaim.
Mamdani said: “Hello, my name is Mamdani. I don’t know Chinese, but I want to give it a try.”
Although Mamdani spoke with the intonation of a non-native Chinese speaker, his articulation, pronunciation, tones, and phrasing were all clear. Speaking slowly, he said, “The New York City government will be giving away over 2,000 free tickets to Broadway shows. Please visit the website below before August 17 to learn how to participate in the lottery; you can also receive a free two-month membership to the Theater Development Fund and enjoy Broadway ticket discounts. See you at the show.”
A large number of netizens commented, “His Chinese is really good,” and “precise and clear,” also attracting political figures to comment in English.
Long-time China affairs reporter and fluent Chinese speaker Shu-Ying Bei posted on X, saying that, from a linguistic perspective, it was excellent: “How did he manage such pronunciation, is he really a beginner?” She noted that many people who learn Chinese never achieve such tone accuracy: “His pronunciation is amazingly good—even retroflexion is no problem.”
Mamdani’s Chinese display drew a large online following. Some users with video editing expertise analyzed that the clip had ten editing cuts, with some suspecting it was AI-generated and others doubting whether the tones and pronunciation had been enhanced.
To win over New York’s cross-ethnic voters, Mamdani—skilled at making short videos for social media—produced Chinese and Cantonese content during his campaign to reach Chinatown communities in various boroughs.
This was his first time delivering an entire message in Chinese since taking office, and his video garnered millions of views and tens of thousands of comments across Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and Facebook.