Over 40K Chinese following Bush kin on popular micro-blogging network

Washington, Sep. 2 (ANI): The brother of former U.S. President George W. Bush has opened an account with China's most popular microblogging service, where his musings on his daughter's wedding have attracted tens of thousands of followers.

According to The Telegraph, Neil Bush, who runs an oil company in Texas and is nine years younger than his better-known sibling, only opened his account with Sina's Weibo - China's answer to Twitter - on Tuesday, with the help of a Chinese-speaking assistant.

But by Friday morning, 41,418 people were following his posts on subjects ranging from China's rapid development to the impending marriage of his daughter Lauren, a former model.

"I have been to China 80 times and am in awe of its development," read one posting.

"I hope all Americans see China's development has come a long way and can gain a better understanding of how China is growing into a global force."

In another posting guaranteed to appeal to a Chinese audience, Bush described China's champion hurdler Liu Xiang as "a hero" and a "great example for people all around the world".

Describing himself as the "non-political member of a very political family", Bush focuses his postings mainly on sports and family.

China has the world's largest online population, with 485 million Internet users, and last month the Internet giant Sina said its weibo, or microblogging site - the country's biggest by far - had surpassed 200 million users. (ANI)