Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is known for his cryptic Twitter posts, posted an ancient Chinese poem on social media, sparking fierce debate among Chinese netizens about its meaning. , who wrote the word human in English before posting an abbreviated version of the Chinese seven-step poem on his official Twitter and Weibo accounts. Discussions about how to interpret Musk's post have become popular on Weibo, with more than 100 million views.

This prompted Chinese netizens to engage in a wild game of debate over what he meant, with many also praising his knowledge of the text, a highly allegorical poem that describes a story from the royal family during the war between the Three Kingdoms in China The relationship between the two brothers. Popular explanations suggest that Musk was hinting at two competing dog-themed cryptocurrencies, Shiba Inu and Dogecoin, both of which he has been talking about this week. Although cryptocurrency trading is banned within China, his tweets are known for driving the cryptocurrency market.

Reference News, a subsidiary of the state-run Xinhua News Agency, said Musk's post may be a nod to his heated exchange with the executive director of the United Nations World Food Program over donations. The Chinese poem Musk posted on Weibo is a departure from his typical messages on the platform, where he has 1.9 million followers and often praises China's space program and economic growth over the past three decades. Musk, who is also the driving force behind rocket maker SpaceX, has remained a popular figure in China even as U.S.-China relations sour and regulators criticize Tesla, which operates a factory in Shanghai. Regarding the Chinese seven-step poem he published, netizens gave fierce comments, but Musk did not respond.

Hertz said Tesla has started delivering cars to its rental fleet, although Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter that the automaker has not yet signed a contract with the company. He also said the Hertz deal would have zero economic impact on the automaker because it would only sell cars to Hertz at the same profit margins as consumers.