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RESOU 热搜 | What’s Trending in China, Explained
Here, I briefly unpack the stories making waves on Chinese social media and share what stands out to me. Don’t miss an update: become a subscriber to Eye on Digital China today.
Oh oh oh, Mbappé, all those goals, yet you lost so many points on Chinese social media over the past 48 hours.
Following his 100th goal for Real Madrid during El Clásico and finishing second on Ballon d’Or night, French football player Mbappé is all the talk on Chinese social media — not for his achievements, but for what is seen as crossing a major red line in an online interview.
On Tuesday night, a text came in from Ruixin: “I am wide awake tonight and somehow witnessed live how the footballer Kylian Mbappé was getting blocked and totally canceled on Chinese social media for his comments about Mao Zedong over the past, like, three hours 😅”
I quickly grabbed my phone and saw the flood of Mbappé posts rapidly coming in, and it was clear that people were very cross with him.
Although it was already clear that this might not blow over any time soon, by early Wednesday morning it became painfully clear how the controversy had snowballed. Dongpeng Beverage Group (东鹏), one of the many Chinese companies that signed the famous sportsman as its brand ambassador, publicly stated that it was cutting all commercial ties with Mbappé. Soon, others followed.
Dongpeng Beverage Group (东鹏): the first in a string of companies to cut ties with French footballer Kylian Mbappé.
Mbappé’s fall from grace in China has been sudden and spectacular, like a major avalanche of backlash that unfolded in one night, and it can all be traced back to one segment of an interview the footballer previously did on a French YouTube show (The Bridge) that resurfaced online — initially through Reddit and X, and then on Chinese social media apps, like football platform Dongqiudi (懂球帝).
In that segment, when asked about his favorite meme, Mbappé replied that one of the memes he finds funniest is:
🗣️ “the one where they put my face on some guy, a Chinese dictator. That really makes me laugh, I use it with my friends all the time.”
The interview segment where Mbappé shares his favorite meme: his face photoshopped onto the face of a “Chinese dictator.”
The show, created by Mbappé’s Real Madrid teammate Aurélien Tchouaméni, added the image Mbappé referred to: his face photoshopped on a Mao propaganda visual. It’s part of a series of memes that emerged in 2024 in which Mbappé’s face is edited onto the faces of dictators.1
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Mbappé, Mao & the Backlash on Chinese Social Media
Mbappé, Mao, and the Joke That Shall Not Be Named
The French Protests, Viewed from China: Five Narratives on Chinese Social Media
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tiodepijama
July 5, 2018 at 7:47 pm
it seems to me that the future is a girl alone with her kid. the woman wants the kid, not the husband. these modern women who make money do not want the bad part of a marriage.
Mickey D
July 7, 2018 at 3:34 pm
I advise young people to take this very seriously. It is the result of arranged marriages, some cultures still haven’t learned rarely work. Don’t let your parents and other relatives tell you who and when to marry. If you have access, search the many matchmaking sites for ‘Chinese women searching for a foreign husband.’ The majority of the women, from late 20s on up, are divorced. Why do they want a foreign husband? It’s common knowledge that some just want to live in the West and other democratic countries. But ask them that question, and they’ll tell you their belief: “foreign men treat women better than Chinese men.” The fact is, many Chinese husbands have “sisters,” girlfriends on the side. The rich ones have mistresses. The reason again, is arranged marriages. The parents push their kids to marry by their mid-20s. A 23 yr. old colleague told me, once a women makes her age, her parents start pushing her to get married. In her case, she met someone through a friend. The couple is expected to pop-out a baby as soon as possible. And like in most of the world, it really doesn’t matter if the baby arrives less than 9 months after the marriage. The parents think the child will keep the loveless marriage together. Ain’t working.