Green Party leader Eamon Ryan got a major reaction online after sharing a throwback pic of him during a 1987 trip to China.
The Dublin TD spent St Patrick's weekend in China and shared updates with his Twitter followers while he visited Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong. On Saturday he reminisced from his first trip to the country when he was in his 20's and posted a photo of him on a bicycle in Beijing.
He said: "Back in 1987 I travelled through China on my own. I remember cycling with twenty people abreast along Tiananmen Square, walking the great wall and then taking the trans-siberian train home. I loved it all."
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Many of his followers were impressed with the younger Eamon Ryan, with one asking: "Wait... was Eamon an 80s movie star, saving his younger brother and babysitter from the high school goons?"
However, the post also sparked criticism, with one commenter saying: "It's a bit mad that I can't get the train to Dublin but you can get there on the trans-siberian. Very odd.”
Another wrote: "No mention of the horrendous one child policy which detrimentally impacted girls in particular resulting in an international adoption policy and has resulted in a gender imbalance in China."
On Saturday, Minister Ryan also reflected on his St Patrick's weekend trip, saying: "My trip this week to #Shanghai #HongKong & #Beijing showed me how dramatically the country has changed.
"Never in history have so many people risen from poverty. The scale of development is hard to believe but the people were still as welcoming. I loved it just the same."
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