Chinese Netizens Scolded Actress for Praising Communist China

Recently a Hong Kong actress, Zhao Yazhi (赵雅芝), posted a picture of herself and Tiananmen Square on the microblog along with the comment, "I feel a deep sense of pride in being Chinese every time I pass Tiananmen." Chinese netizens flooded the Internet with their responses. These days, public sentiment throughout China is expressed in comments that are anti-officials, anti-government, and especially anti-Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

People blamed her for flattering the Chinese regime to advance her personal career. Some examples of the comments follow: "If you want to make money in China, you should use the right approach. Use flattering words [to the CCP]. Don’t you care about your face?" "[You should] change your citizenship to Chinese first!" "Emigrate to China; otherwise don’t fake it!" "I really don’t know what pride the Chinese have!" "Then you should stay in Beijing to fully enjoy the smog."

Later Chinese state-controlled media fought back. Xinhua republished a China Youth Daily article titled "Zhao Yazhi, My Love for You Is Truly Not Wrong." The article claimed that people got annoyed with Zhao’s posting because Tiananmen symbolizes the CCP’s leadership. It blamed netizens for their lack of national identity and national pride. "Before we loved [Zhao Yazhi], because of her beauty; today we love her even more. It is not just because she is beautiful, but also because she is patriotic."