"If you are not retarded, you cannot be an official in China."

This famous line was said by a very famous professor, Yi Zhongtian （易中天）, on CCTV. Yi Zhongtian, a professor at Xiamen University, is famous for his lecture series on CCTV-10 about the Han Dynasty and one of China's classic masterpieces, Romance of the Three Kingdoms （三国演义).

This Monday, Professor Yi was invited to participate in a famous TV talk show on a Beijing TV station called Fei Chang Wang Luo (非常网络). During the interview, Professor Yi spoke his mind without a second thought, telling the interviewer, "If you are not retarded, you cannot be an official in China (这年头不弱智怎么当领导)" amongst other great phrases.

Below are a collection of Professor Yi's quotations from the interview, put together by his fans:

"要不开个主持人培训班算了，现在媒体都是弱智." "Why don't we open up a TV MC training course. The media nowadays is retarded.”

“被一个愚蠢的主持人，问了一堆乱七八糟的问题。“
"(I am) asked by a stupid MC for a bunch of nonsense questions."

"你们完不成任务了吧，主要怪你们领导是弱智."
"You (TV hosts) can't finish the tasks? Yes, please blame on your retarded leaders."

Chinese netizens seemed to adore Professor's Yi honesty:

"骂得好." "Well-cursed."

"答得真经典，敢说实话，这个社会这样的人越来越少了~"
"Very classic answers. (Professor Yi) Spoke the truth. There are fewer and fewer people like him in this society."

"佩服易老师说真话。”
"I admire that Professor Yi had the gut to speak the truth."

"那些无知的主持人妈的报日食~~~~傻死,被人笑死,日食成了举国欢庆的大事了,娘嘞"
"When these empty-headed comperes reported about the eclipse, so stupid, I can laugh my ass off, (they said that the) eclipse is the festival for the whole nation. Mother!"

But a few of them were worried about what might happen to Professor Yi, considering he spoke so loudly and frankly against the government, with one commenter warning: "老易,你惨了,居然敢说实话" "Old Yi, you are dead. (You) Even spoke the truth."

Let's hope that Professor Yi will survive through this. It would be a shame if he was "wrongly put in an asylum" by the officials he called "retarded."

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By Allie Shi in on July 23, 2009 3:00 PM Comments 4 Likes Likes

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