Image:
Getty
Eileen Gu is the “snow princess” of China – especially following her Olympic victory in freestyle skiing. But following an Instagram post, ridicule pours out on the native American.
Eileen Gu is the new darling in the country of the Olympic host. According to research from «Wall Street Journal» The 18-year-old, who grew up in San Francisco, already has over 30 sponsors, many of them from China. The daughter of an American and a mother with Chinese roots has been competing for China since 2019 but wants to be a sports superstar in both worlds. The teenager left open whether she gave up her American citizenship for China. Normally, communist China does not allow dual citizenship.
An Instagram post tells Gu how difficult it is to navigate between the two countries. One user wrote to her: «Why can you use Instagram when millions of Chinese are not allowed to use it? Why do you get preferential treatment as a Chinese citizen? That’s not fair! Can you fight for the millions of Chinese who don’t have internet freedom?”
In the Middle Kingdom, the Internet is state-censored. Social media such as Facebook or Instagram are blocked, and national news services such as Weibo are often used as an alternative.
Gu puts his foot in it
However, Gu’s response cast doubt on her understanding of the severity of the restrictions that ordinary people in the People’s Republic experience on a daily basis. «Anyone can download a VPN. It’s practically free in the App Store.»
Internet censorship can actually be circumvented with this trick, but the application is of course forbidden in China and may even be punished with imprisonment. Nevertheless, the young population in particular uses VPN illegally to exchange information. So Gu had to take a lot of criticism on Weibo (quasi the Chinese Twitter) for her naive statement. The main tenor was the privileges of an arrogant star who knows nothing regarding the problems of ordinary people. Soon, government monitors took action and deleted the relevant screenshots, like those «New York Post» reported.
Different treatment, same result
The authorities also intervened in another case at the Olympics. There was a shitstorm on Weibo regarding the Chinese figure skater Zhu Yi – who was also born in the USA and fell twice in Beijing. As a result, China dropped from third to fifth place in the team competition.
The hashtag “Zhu Yi fell” became a trend following her fall. Users urged the 19-year-old to “go back to America” and said she had brought “shame” on China. Zhu, whose family relocated to Beijing from California, was widely criticized for her lack of Mandarin and her “too American” demeanor.
On the same platform, Eilleen Gu was praised as “Miss Perfect” for her skiing skills, modeling career and her perfect mandarin.
Image:
Screenshot/Twitter
Note d. Red.: Article with material from DPA
