Ni Hao from Down Under

Travel Blog  •  Julia Ross  •  01.29.09 | 11:21 AM ET

I gave President Obama high marks last week for trying out his Indonesian while on a visit to the State Department. Well, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd does Obama one better. Here he is, wishing China a happy new year in perfectly fluent Mandarin, apparently the only world leader to record such a message.