Mark Zuckerberg's run in smoggy Beijing raises all sorts of questions

Sometimes, a run is just a run. But it gets complicated if you're the CEO of Facebook taking a jog through smoggy Beijing. 

Mark Zuckerberg, who is in town for the China Development Forum, posted an image on Thursday of his run in Tiananmen Square.

The problem with that is you can't post to Facebook in China -- the entire service, along with Twitter and many others, is blocked by the country's so-called Great Firewall of China.

It is, of course, possible that an account manager located outside of China posted the photo to Zuckerberg's profile. It's also relatively simple to circumvent China's Facebook blockade with the use of a VPN (virtual private networking) service. Still, it's interesting to see the Facebook CEO essentially cheating through China's blockade of his very own service. 

The photo sparked controversy for other reasons as well; some folks noted the high level of smog in Beijing, claiming Zuckerberg should've worn a face mask for his protection.

"I totally understand the efforts you are making to expand Chinese market, but as a Chinese I have to remind you the air pollution index(PM2.5) of the day you ran in Beijing is 384 (poison to human body, normal range

And others are pointing out the cultural significance of the Tiananmen square, where hundreds of protesters were killed by the government during the Tiananmen square protests of 1989. 

"The floor you stepped has been covered by blood from students who fought for democracy. But, enjoy your running in China, Mark," another commenter wrote. 

We've contacted Facebook for details on Zuckerberg's smoggy run in Beijing and will update the post when we hear from them.  

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