China is not shy to use Uyghur athlete for propaganda.
Bearing an Olympic Torch, and a Politically Loaded Message - Chinese state media declared after the opening ceremony that Yilamujiang, a Uyghur skier, had “showed the world a beautiful and progressive Xinjiang” with her “smiling face and youthful figure.”
Meanwhile, people can easily find similarity in history from the Nazi era. Helene Mayer, a Jewish athlete, also competed in the 1936 Olympics to protect her family in labour camp in Germany.
The US Holocaust Museum also noticed the stark similarity between the 1936 and 2022 Olympic Games, they tweeted:
At the #Olympics you’ll see a well-known tradition—the torch relay—which the Nazis used at the 1936 Olympics for propaganda purposes.
Today, we witness how the Olympics can still be used to distract from atrocities, such as the persecution of the #Uyghurs.
A Chinese state media employee quickly responded:
Shame on the Holocaust Museum. Are you saying Nazi Holocaust of Jews was nothing but vocational training? More than 30,000 Jews sought refuge in Shanghai during the war and this is now your appreciation to the Chinese people?
And of course, Nazi would agree with this Chinese reporter, after all, “Work sets you free”.
Eileen Gu becomes a trending topic on Chinese Twitter again. This time, it is about her Instagram posts (some alleged that she later deleted the second post - I could not find it, but a mention of cilla.chan is still there) :
People were angry because using VPN to get out of the Great Firewall (GFW) is illegal for ordinary Chinese citizens. In the past few years, many people were sentenced or detained for using VPN.
A foreign reporter pointed out that in Xinjiang, using a VPN was a privilege for him as it will land the locals in labour camp for sure.
As if to illustrate, another reporter gasped at the speed of censorship:
Saw a Douban post asking where one can get a VPN to view Gu’s Instagram account, and literally when I was taking a screenshot of the discussion, one line appeared on top of the post that said: “this is a non-public discussion.” Hard to make up more 1984-esque plots than this:
(rough translation)
top line: “this is a non-public discussion.”
user name: “Already removed”. (Not sure if this is the original user name, or the account was just removed. You decide.)
“I want to see Eileen Gu’s ig!”
“Godess, I am begging for a ladder. “
Ladder is Chinese for VPN, because it is used to go over a wall.
“I only want to visit ig. “
“Is there any free ladder for ios?”
“I wish the kind goddess who shares the information privately become super rish in 2022. “
Just to clarify, Apple Appstore in China does not carry any VPN app. Eileen Gu is talking about Apple Appstore in America. Her willingness to play the useful idiot for the CCP made many people angry.
Meanwhile, AP is reporting that the journalists in the Olympic bubble are very busy at work:
With nowhere really to go, journalists inside the #Beijing2022 bubble are encouraged to sleep on the job.
They can’t visit the village rooms where competitors are staying, but they can try out the high-tech beds athletes are sleeping in.
Japanese figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu is a huge fan of the Winnie the Pooh. Back in 2018, the Chinese state media reported that the skate rink had a rain of Winnie the Pooh when he got the gold medal:
This year, Chinese media reported again:
The sports channel of Shandong Province on Weibo:
Yuzuru Hanyu did not bring the napkin box of Winnie the Pooh to the Beijing Winter Olympic, do you know why?
There is a very heart warming reason.
For some special reason, Yuzuru Hanyu did not bring his Winnie the Pooh plush toys.
My dear newsletter reader, can you guess the “very heart warming reason”?
BTW, there is a story about a young man working for Bilibili as a censor for the platform that died of overwork. Then, obviously, his death was censored by other workers that censor Chinese social media. You can read the story on this side without any ladder: Claims that overwork killed China tech worker reignites ‘996’ debate.
Meanwhile, the Olympic tradition of torch relay, which was invented by Nazi Germany in 1936, was used by China for domestic propaganda. Journalist noticed that:
Chinese foreign ministry asked abt choice of a PLA soldier involved in Galwan clash w India as an Olympics torchbearer:
“we hope relevant party can view the torchbearers in an objective & rational way and refrain from making politicized interpretation”
This gaslighting is very typical of CCP: employing a soldier that was involved in a cross border fight with India is okay, asking about it is the problem. In Chinese social media, it is called: “Not trying to solve the problem itself, but solving the people who discovered and reported the problem.” It happens all the time.
This is of course not the only time the Olympic game is used to boost nationalistic sentiment. Hu Xijin, a flag figure for nationalistic propaganda, well known to foreign reporters covering China, gave you a flavour of what it looks like to most Chineses:
(rough translation) Haha, this way is good. The pretty and talented Eileen Gu came back to represent China and got championship, while the disabled blind Chen Guangcheng went to the USA to find “light”. Haha, welcome to more able people to China; scientists, sportmen, businessmen, all are welcome. And bye bye to those who are not happy and full of complains: go to the USA for “freedom”. Let China become the stage for big achievements and USA become paradise for the misfits. The world will be as harmonious as it can be.
Chen Guangcheng is a famous rights lawyer who was fighting for the women’s rights in rural China in the height of one-child policy when thousands of women were forced to get abortion. He was rescued by the Obama administration and now he lives in the USA and is participating in the pro-life movement.
One Chinese user on social media responded:
The wall country should grant all the gold medalists Chinese citizenship, so we can claim that we won all the gold medals.
“Wall country” is a very heart warming nickname for China, because China is well known for the great firewall.
To see how much China want the gold medals, watch this short video that shows a Chinese athlete (with black sleeves) skillfully throwing an item on the floor to sabotage the performance of a Canadian athlete.
These Olympic Games are going so well that an athlete said “I have no more tears”.
There are two young Chinese American women competing for Team China in these Olympic games, and already foreign media noticed the difference of public receptions between these two.
This Quartz article: The disdain in China for US-born skater Zhu Yi is a stark contrast to the love for Eileen Gu is worth reading, if you want to know the details. It is a good look into the psyche of the Chinese public – what they adore and what they hate.
After foreign media noticed the harsh treatment of Ms. Zhu Yi, Chinese government quickly solved the problem the only way they know how to: delete the posts that caused the criticism. Well, that is only because they could not “solve” the foreign media who reported the problem.
Although not many foreign leaders attended the Olympic games, those that attended made our dear supreme leader very happy.
Just watch this video of dear supreme leader’s meeting with the president of Argentina, there is English subtitle. You will learn that the Argentina president visited the CCP museum.
At the 1:04 minute time, the interpreter said “Without the CCP, there is no new China” in Chinese to kiss the magnificent ass of our dear supreme leader. This is the signature propaganda of CCP that every Chinese knows from kindergarten. A very well trained interpreter.
The reward is a hefty US\(23.7 billion investment, according to the news [Argentina joins China’s Belt and Road initiative, eyes US\)23 billion investment](https://batimes.com.ar/news/argentina/argentina-joins-chinas-belt-and-road-initiative-eyes-us23-billion-investment.phtml).
What a show for winnie, I mean, dear supreme leader.
You tell me.
