(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) "Süddeutsche Zeitung" wrote that an Internet meme that parodied French star Mbappe actually got Mbappe himself into big trouble in China. The newspaper published a comment titled "A Costly Joke" and wrote:
"In China, it is absolutely not allowed to joke about Mao Zedong, even if Mao Zedong's name is not mentioned. Now, Mbappe has personal experience of this. The French star said in an interview video that has been circulated recently that he believes that a picture portrays him as the founder of China. The picture of the head of state was very funny to him: the famous Chinese tunic suit and the half-bald hairstyle. This comment immediately caused a strong response in China, and many Chinese companies immediately announced the termination of their advertising contracts with Mbappe.
On Tuesday this week, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also made a formal statement on this. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said: 'Any words or deeds that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people will be jointly resisted by the Chinese people. ’
So, what did the French star say, and why did it cause such an uproar in China? He called Mao Zedong a dictator. In fact, Mbappe is also a bit unjust. In fact, Mbappe did not mention Mao Zedong's name, and the content of the interview had nothing to do with China. Mbappe was simply asked what his favorite online joke about himself was. Mbappe responded that his favorite was an image depicting him as a 'Chinese dictator'. It's a picture of Mbappe's face spliced onto Mao Zedong's body. Mbappe casually said that he likes to send this picture to friends, such as when playing PlayStation together. "
"Süddeutsche Zeitung" commented that a joke among friends immediately aroused strong dissatisfaction in China. Several of Mbappe's Chinese sponsors immediately announced the termination of all cooperation with him.
"The reasons for the termination of cooperation by several companies sound similar: any behavior that hurts the feelings of the Chinese people will never be tolerated. However, what is striking is that the statements of these companies have avoided one point: what exactly Mbappe said.
The Chinese football platform Qiaoqiudi also spoke out, condemning the French player's remarks for hurting the feelings of Chinese fans, but also stated that the platform was unable to translate and publish his original words. Ever since, a strange scene has appeared on Chinese social networks: many Chinese fans know that Mbappe must have said something treacherous. But as for what he actually said, obviously fans don't need to know. "
"In the eyes of many, Xi Jinping himself is already a dictator."
"Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" commented that Mao Zedong was a dictator, which is completely uncontroversial in the historians. After all, the Great Leap Forward he launched resulted in tens of millions of people dying from famine. The "Cultural Revolution" he launched brought China into chaos and violence. But despite this, Mbappe’s joke was still intolerable to the Chinese Communist Party:
"However, the paradox is that no one in China has come forward to explain what rebellious remarks Mbappe made. The so-called 'hurt the feelings of the Chinese people' incident has become a hot topic on social media. Many people below the rankings are asking, how did the Frenchman hurt our feelings? However, to answer their questions, the party's propaganda machine had to repeat Mbappe's original words. So, they simply deleted the relevant video.
The reason behind this is that the CCP believes that the Soviet Union’s critical reflection on its own history was an important reason for its eventual decline. In 2013, Chinese party and state leader Xi Jinping said in a speech that the denial of Lenin and Stalin had contributed to historical nihilism and ideological confusion. Currently, the Fifth Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China is being held in Beijing. Its core topic is to strengthen ideology and strengthen the party's centralized and unified leadership. This is likely also in preparation for next year's party congress, when Xi Jinping is expected to be re-elected as the party's top leader for a five-year term. In the eyes of many people, Xi Jinping himself has long been a dictator. Former US President Biden once made such an evaluation of Xi Jinping. "
