The festive atmosphere at the 55th edition of Taipei’s Golden Horse Awards was overclouded by political remarks on stage about both an independent Taiwan and a unified Taiwan. The Film Festival’s ‘Taiwan independence’ controversy has become the talk of the day on Chinese social media.

The annual Taipei Golden Horse Film Awards (台北金馬影展) have been shrouded in controversy since Taiwanese director Fu Yue (傅榆), who won an award for the best documentary, expressed her hopes for an “independent Taiwan” in her acceptance speech, followed by a remark by Chinese mainland actor Tu Men (涂们), who expressed his joy over coming to “China, Taiwan.”

During the live-televised event, cameras often zoomed in on the audience. After the remarks by Fu Yue and Tu Men, the divide between Taiwanese and mainland guests became painfully clear from their mixed reactions – with people showing both support and disapproval.

Fu, whose documentary Our Youth in Taiwan focuses on the 2014 Sunflower Movement, was visibly emotional during her speech, which she concluded by saying that she hoped “the country can be regarded as truly independent entity one day” and that this was her “biggest hope as a Taiwanese.”

Although her speech received some cheers and applause from the audience, some shots of the audience also showed people clearly disapproving by not clapping or smiling at all.

How The Golden Horse Awards turned dark after Taiwan Independence speech https://t.co/fUk8IfVJHv pic.twitter.com/2XpOK9GvVy

— What's on Weibo (@WhatsOnWeibo) November 19, 2018

Famous Taiwan director Ang Lee (李安), who chairs the Golden Horse committee, could be seen hesistantly smiling, frowning, and holding his hands together without clapping – an image that has since become a meme on Chinese social media.

Later on in the show, actor Tu Men from mainland China struck back at Fu Yue by saying he was honored to present an award in “China, Taiwan” (“很荣幸来到中国台湾”) and that “both sides were one big family” (“我感到两岸一家亲”).

That remark was followed by some audible gasps from the audience, with some people immediately showing their support by clapping and laughing, with others showing stern faces.

The live streaming of the awards received thousands of live comments on Youtube, with people saying things as: “We want our our Taiwan Island, give Taiwan back to us and give us independence” and “I’ll never support Taiwan independence, Taiwan will always be a province of China.”

But that was not all – the controversy further grew when leading Chinese actress Gong Li, chair of the jury , declined to stand on stage with Ang Lee at the end of the ceremony to present the award for Best Feature Film. According to the programme, the mainland actress was supposed to present the award together with Ang Lee, but when Li asked Gong to come up on stage with him, she did not respond.

Although it is not entirely clear what the context of this incident is – Ang Lee later explained that it was because she wanted to sit together with the other jury members – most netizens assume Gong’s move was a political one in response to the remarks on an independent Taiwan.

The hashtag “Gong Li Refuses to Confer Award” (#巩俐拒绝颁奖#) went trending on Chinese social media, receiving over 1,8 billion views on Weibo at time of writing. “Ang Lee responds to Gong Li Refusing to Confer Award” (#李安回应巩俐拒绝颁奖#) received 110 million views.

Reporter Simon Zhou posted a photo of the post-festival event on Weibo, showing empty chairs, saying that many mainland actors and actresses had refused to join the celebrations after the controversial event, even though Zhang Yimou, one of mainland China’s most acclaimed directors, took home the most awards for his film Shadow.

Since the end of the 55th edition of the Golden Horse Festival, the night’s events have been snowballing into a larger issue. According to the BBC, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen spoke out after the festival, saying that Taiwan “never accepted the phrase ‘China, Taiwan’, and never would, because Taiwan is Taiwan”.

Meanwhile, Chinese state media (People’s Daily, China Daily) have been promoting the hashtag “China Can’t Become Smaller” or “Not Even a Bit Can Be Removed from China” (#中国一点都不能少#) on social media, which is a slogan that was first used during the South China Sea arbitration in 2016.

The past year, discussions on the ongoing Taiwan Strait Issue have flared up multiple times. In August, Taipei-born actress Vivian Sung (宋芸樺) attracted thousands of comments on Weibo for a comment she made about Taiwan being her “favorite country” in an older interview.

In the same month, Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen paid a visit to a Los Angeles chain of Taiwanese 85°C Bakery Café (85度C) while on her United States trip. The occasion, captured on photos, triggered major controversy among mainland netizens, who tied the event to the 85°C Bakery supposedly supporting Taiwan independence.

This is the controversial moment at the #GoldenHorseAwards when Chinese director Fu Yue calls for an independent Taiwan. Check out the mixed reactions and the changing atmosphere. Read: https://t.co/m1hDt0VbbM pic.twitter.com/fkdCdJPeXK

— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) 19 november 2018

Oh, the #GoldenHorse 'political drama' just has so many sides to it. This is when mainland actor Tu Men strikes back, saying he's happy to present an award in "China, Taiwan" ("很荣幸来到中国台湾") saying it's "one big family" ("我感到两岸一家亲"): https://t.co/m1hDt0VbbM pic.twitter.com/5TAZk8SPqw

— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) 19 november 2018

By Manya Koetse, with contributions from Miranda Barnes
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The comments from education mogul Yu Minhong on the moral degeneration of Chinese women leading to the degeneration of the country, have caused major controversy on Chinese social media.

The founder and CEO of the US-listed education institution New Oriental (新东方教育), Michael Minhong Yu (Yu Minhong 俞敏洪), has caused quite some consternation on Chinese social media for holding women responsible for the decline of the country.

The comments in question were made at the Shanghai Educational Forum (2018学习力大会) on Sunday, November 18, where Yu – also known as “the richest teacher in China” – spoke in front of a large audience and said: “Chinese women’s standard for picking men is now based on his ability to make a lot of money. In the end, if a country is doing well or not, often leads back to women. And now the degeneration [or ‘corruption’: duòluò 堕落] of Chinese women is leading to the degeneration of the country.”

Yu’s remarks, that can be viewed in the video below, drew some laughter from the audience.

The comments by Yu were made in light of his discussion on education, suggesting that people’s evaluation standards define the direction of education, just as women’s standards for men define the quality of men.

Yu’s comments soon went viral on WeChat and Weibo, where the hashtag “Yu Minhong discriminates against women” (#俞敏洪歧视女性#) received over 38 million views.

“What kind of logic is this, to suggest that Chinese women are picking men based on their ability to make money?!”, some commenters said: “Don’t generalize like that, and please respect women!” “Are all the women he knows like that?” some wondered.

The issue especially captured the attention of netizens when Chinese actress Zhang Yuqi criticized him on Weibo, saying that “[your] Peking University education and New Oriental have not helped you understand the value of females and the meaning of gender equality.”

Zhang’s post attracted over 92,000 comments at time of writing.

Despite the general anger over Yu’s comments, there were also those who expressed some support. “He might be a bit extreme, but many women are actually like that,” one male commenter wrote.

Yu Minhong later apologized for his remarks on his Weibo account, where he has over 14 million followers. His post, that had disabled comments, received nearly 240,000 likes. Yu wrote:

“Today at a forum, I mentioned that ‘evaluation standards can determine the direction of education,’ and I used women’s standards for choosing spouses as an example. But I didn’t express myself correctly, and it has led to much misunderstanding among netizens – I greatly apologize for that. What I really wanted to say is: the standard of women in a country represents the level of that country. Women who have high inner quality, and mothers who have high quality, will raise high-quality children. Men are also led by women’s system of values. If it is an intellecual life that women pursue, then men will become wiser. If women only have money in their eyes, then men will desperately strive to make money, and neglect their spiritual life. If a woman is strong, then a man is strong, then a country is strong.”

By now, many (video) reports and comment sections about Yu’s remarks have been taken offline.

Yu Minhong founded the educational institute New Oriental in 1993, and it has now become the largest provider of private educational services in China. As a successful businessman and a national political advisor, the “Godfather of English Training” is known for his outspokenness.

By Manya Koetse, with contributions from Miranda Barnes
Follow @whatsonweibo

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©2018 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com