In between running the world's largest social networking site and a plethora of other philanthropic entities, Mark Zuckerberg has apparently learned to speak Mandarin Chinese.

The 30-year-old tech billionaire wowed a Beijing audience yesterday by conducting a 30-minute question and answer session in Mandarin.

He began his address by telling students and faculty members that his Chinese was “really a mess” and that “Perhaps, I need practice”.

He then went on to discuss innovation in China, Facebook's future in the country and why he is studying Chinese.

He even cracked a joke about his listening comprehension being particularly bad.

While his command of the language was far from perfect, it was met with cheers and applause.

Zuckerberg later posted the interview on his Facebook page. "I did my first ever public Q&A in Chinese at Tsinghua University in Beijing," he wrote.

“We discussed connecting the world, Internet.org, innovation and the early days of Facebook. Tsinghua is an amazing centre of learning and research and it has been inspiring to be with so many talented future Chinese leaders.”

The Facebook chief revealed he was studying the language in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2010.