In the world's second-largest economy, owning a Tesla car has become the social marker of the middle class in recent years.

And the economic success of the 51-year-old American billionaire also arouses admiration.

Zhu Qi, owner of a Tesla in the city of Changsha (center), does not hesitate to say: she "worships" Elon Musk for his "great personal charm and his constant excellence in his field" according to her.

"China is not very open yet... So for people like him to come and share some of their knowledge with us, I think it's something important, which our country and our leaders can learn from," the 33-year-old university professor told AFP.

Arrived Tuesday in Beijing before joining Shanghai Wednesday evening, Elon Musk, also boss of the social network Twitter (inaccessible in the Asian country), made his first visit to China in more than three years, taking advantage of the lifting of anti-Covid restrictions.

"Brother horse"

Chinese social media enthusiastically followed every minute of his stay, with Weibo posts – similar to Twitter – racking up billions of views.

Elon Musk was greeted almost in the image of a foreign political leader, meeting in Beijing several members of the government, to whom he praised the "vitality" of Chinese development.

In Shanghai, he visited the Gigafactory assembly site, inaugurated by Tesla in 2019, according to images posted on Weibo by Grace Tao, the group's public relations officer in the country.

His jet finally took off from China on Thursday morning.

Tesla boss Elon Musk (in white) boards his private jet at Beijing Capital International Airport on May 31, 2023 © Jade Gao / AFP

Photos of his welcome dinner on Tuesday - including 16 different dishes including seafood, New Zealand lamb and traditional Beijing noodles, made with soybean paste - quickly went viral.

Many netizens did not hide their admiration for this man they affectionately nickname "Brother horse", because of the first character of his name in Chinese.

"For Musk, there are no countries on this planet, only markets... to sell his goods," said one. "This is exactly the kind of capitalism without borders he predicted."

"Overtime"

Some took the opportunity to mock the United States, at a time when relations between the two countries are particularly tense.

Elon Musk "is apparently the only American welcome in China," noted one Weibo user.

"Biden must be wondering why China is refusing his invitations to meet with top U.S. officials, but rolling out the red carpet for Musk," joked another.

A meme circulating on the platform this week showed a statesman-like "Comrade Musk" standing behind a podium flanked by Chinese flags, while suitably clad officials in the background.

But not everyone in China has succumbed to Elon Musk's charm.

Thus, some have noted that photos of his visit to the Shanghai factory, where he poses surrounded by hundreds of employees, were posted to... half past midnight.

In recent years, more and more tech workers have rightly criticized the long hours and high levels of stress to which they are subjected.

"It's a bit outdated to force so many people to stay in the middle of the night just to take pictures," said one user.

"You're all working overtime tonight, huh?" asked another.

© 2023 AFP