Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg wowed the crowd at a Chinese university Wednesday when he conducted a 30-minute Q&A session entirely in Mandarin, USA Today reports.

The 30-year-old billionaire started out with a warning: "My Chinese is pretty terrible." But the audience at Tsinghua University in Beijing was impressed. People "gasped and then broke into applause when Zuckerberg took the microphone and greeted them in Mandarin, saying 'Da jia hao' (Hello, everyone)," the newspaper added.

The first question Zuckerberg had to field, consequently, was why he decided to learn the language. Three reasons, the Facebook CEO explained: his wife is Chinese, China's culture intrigues him and he likes "a challenge."

The entrepreneur became a household name in 2010 when his role in creating Facebook was dramatized in Aaron Sorkin's Oscar contender "The Social Network." By the end of that year, Zuckerberg was prominent enough to be crowned Time magazine's "Person of the Year."

He has been married to Massachusetts-born Priscilla Chan, a medical doctor, since 2010. Chinese was the dominant language in Chan's home, USA Today said.

Facebook, which started in Zuckerberg's Harvard dorm room, today has more than 1.3 billion members. Ironically, though, Chinese authorities have banned the social network since 2009.

However, more than 140 Tsinghua alumni work for the company, according to PCWorld's translation of Zuckerberg's comments. The university is a "highly regarded research university" and "sometimes called 'the MIT of China,'" USA Today contends.

Despite the ban, Facebook indirectly operates in the Communist country, he added. "We help Chinese companies grow their international customers," Zuckerberg said, according to PCWorld. "They use Facebook ads to find new customers."

The widespread coverage of Zuckerberg's surprise language skills, meanwhile, caused amusement in the Chinese media. "Judging by the reaction in the U.S. press, a reader would be forgiven for thinking this was the first time an American had spoken a foreign language," the South China Morning Post wrote.

Wired, meanwhile, feels that Zuckerberg's example may just be the motivation many Americans need: "Think you're too busy to learn another language?" the magazine asked. "Well, you're not the CEO of a $205 billion company."