Enthralled with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao? You can now declare it on Facebook.
It's not known who set up the page for the leader that now appears on the social networking site and features his official government photo. But the premier appears to have some fans - more than 16,000 users had signed up as his "supporters" as of Wednesday.
Facebook said that each of those "supporters" has a profile on the site. The "profile sign-up process, which requires a valid e-mail address, is our way of authenticating each user," Facebook spokewoman Debbie Frost told The Associated Press.
The Chinese government doesn't have the most approachable reputation, but Wen's been praised for his quick and sympathetic response to the May 12 earthquake in central China that's killed more than 67,000 people.
"This is Grandpa Wen Jiabao, hang on child, we will rescue you!" he shouted at one point to a student trapped in the rubble, state media reported.
His Facebook page was set up two days after the quake. It's full of supportive comments and photos of him walking through the rubble and comforting victims.
"I love you, oh my God," Tina Wong of Hong Kong posted.
"A model Premier for the world!" Sukant Chandan of London added.
"It's so great 2 see u here!" Celeste Lee of China said.
A woman who answered the phone at the spokesman's office of the Foreign Ministry, who did not give her name or position, said they had not heard about Wen Jiabao's page on Facebook. The news office of the State Council, China's Cabinet, also said it had not heard of it.
Frost said that supporters have been expressing their feelings on Wen's page.
"This kind of interaction and information sharing by or about public figures is exactly what Facebook pages facilitate," she said.
The page differs from the more typical Facebook profile. Access to profiles is generally reserved only for those that the owner designates as "friends." But pages are often set up by the fans of celebrities and can be viewed by anyone. Some politicians and celebrities set up their own pages to communicate with their supporters.
The 66-year-old Wen's ability to show up quickly at the site of a disaster - coal mine explosions, snowstorm-blocked railways - and look sympathetic has made him the most popular figure of the often distant-seeming Chinese leadership.
Just hours after the 7.9-magnitude quake hit Sichuan province, he was on the scene with a bullhorn. Television cameras followed him for days as he tried to comfort children and put on a hard hat to enter a collapsed building.
"The central government hasn't forgotten about this place. We will rescue those who are injured. If the roads are blocked, we'll use airplanes to lift them out," he said to survivors at the epicentre, Wenchuan.
President Hu Jintao followed Wen's visit to the quake zone with one of his own, but he looked less comfortable and didn't win the kind of warm support the premier did.
A quick check of Facebook shows he doesn't have his own page, either.
