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ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)

Facebook billionaire co-founder Mark Zuckerberg is apparently trying out a new strategy in China, even though his website is banned -- shut out by the country's great firewall.

The CEO did the entire 30-minute question and answer session in Mandarin on Wednesday (October 22), drawing gasps from the crowd in Beijing' prestigious Tsinghua University, where Zuckberberg will join as a board member in its business school.

"I am very happy to be in Beijing. I love this city. My Chinese is horrible but I want to try to speak Chinese today. I might need more practice," Zuckerberg said, with a heavy accent.

He said speaking the language was his top self improvement goal from 2010 and described to his audience how he spoke to his Chinese-American wife's grandmother in Mandarin.

The world's most popular social network has been blocked in China since 2009 while the company's Instagram photo-sharing service was also reportedly