On February 18, 2022, Gu Ailing won the championship again in the women’s U-shaped field skills event in the Beijing Winter Olympics freestyle skiing. (Credit: Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
[SeeChinaFebruary192022News](See a comprehensive report by Chinese reporter Xiao Ran) February 18,Gu Ailingon fridayBeijing Winter OlympicsThe freestyle skiing women’s U-shaped field skills event won the championship. So far, she has won 2 golds and 1 silver, becoming the first athlete to win 3 freestyle skiing medals in one Olympic Games.However, inChinathe voice of questioning her also gradually rose.
Gu Ailing first won a surprise gold medal in the big platform competition and a silver medal in the slope obstacle skill earlier this week. Gu Ailing had already secured the gold medal in the U-shaped field skills competition before starting the third round. She had previously scored the highest score of 95.00 in the second round, nearly 5 points higher than the second place.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the skiing prodigy girl quickly became popular in China. During CCTV’s Winter Olympics commercials, Gu Ailing almost dominated the screen. Her advertisements were all over supermarkets, elevators, subway stations and airports. She is the most commonly used mobile app in China. The opening interface is all her avatar. Gu Ailing has also signed endorsement contracts with more than 30 domestic and foreign brands. At the age of 18, she has become one of the highest-paid female athletes in the world.
Gu Ailing, who was born in the United States and lives in San Francisco, announced in 2019 that she would represent China at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. However, after winning the first gold medal this year, the issue of her nationality has attracted special attention from the outside world. Chinese law does not recognize dual citizenship, but Gu did not say whether she had renounced her U.S. citizenship.
In China, critical voices are beginning to emerge.
The WeChat public account “Slave Society” published an article titled “What does Gu Ailing’s success have to do with ordinary people?” It seemed to resonate with many people, and it also made the authorities uneasy.
The article stated that there is no evidence that Gu Ailing has withdrawn from the United States, and her success should be attributed to the free and diverse American education and the strict Chinese exam-oriented education. After the post was posted online, it was quickly deleted by Tencent, but every time the article was deleted, other blogs and media reposted it, but the links disappeared a few hours later.
There is still a lot of discussion around Gu Ailing on the Chinese Internet, such as Gu Ailing’s preference for non-political topics such as Beijing cuisine such as leek boxes. Still, the growing number of online comments about her role in China’s changing self-perception and global positioning could unsettle Beijing.
Bo Zhang, who has 140,000 followers in Xiaohongshu, hit the bell and said in a video that was liked 32,000 times, “Do you have the money to send your girl to a private school? You have that time on Saturday and Sunday. Drive 8 hours to go skiing with her? If she really falls, do you have the money to do such expensive physiotherapy for her?” Comparing Gu Ailing’s rare training method with many other Chinese people, Zhang rang the bell. The conclusion is, “We belong to a different world.”
Gu Ailing’s mother, Gu Yan, was born in Beijing. She was educated in the United States and worked as a Wall Street trader and venture capitalist. She has been accompanying her daughter to grow up in Chinese and Western cultures.
Chen Xiaoyu, a cultural commentator, said that she likes Gu Ailing very much, but she should not be regarded as a representative of the success of Chinese women, because most of the resources that Gu Ailing has are unavailable. Her success is more of a second-generation American middle-class immigrant story than a native Chinese feminist story. The video has been liked nearly 50,000 times.
Some China watchers have criticized Gu Ailing for avoiding human rights issues in China. “I’m not trying to solve political issues now…I also know that at this time, I can’t do everything I want,” Gu Ailing told reporters on Thursday.
A user named cilla.chan asked Gu Ailing on Instagram: “Why can you use Instagram, but millions of Chinese can’t?” Gu Ailing replied: “Anyone can download a VPN, and it is available in the App Store. Itās free.ā The report was later removed from the Chinese Internet.
Many believe it is risky for her to travel between the U.S. and China, taking the benefits of both.
For example, she was accused of failing to display the Chinese flag in time after winning silver in the freestyle slope slalom. One Weibo user warned that one day she would be backed by Chinese national sentiment and so-called patriotic traffic.
About Gu Ailing’s privilege
Some critics resent Gu Ailing’s refusal to talk about her privileges.
She has resources that ordinary people don’t have, which is reflected in her class, support from wealthy families, and access to cultural capital, and behind the popularity of Gu Ailing’s public opinion is the endorsement of the regime. The Chinese state media and mainstream social media promote her and eliminate voices that damage her image.
Beijing has always wanted to present a positive image by hosting World Games. China has never won more than 5 gold medals in the previous Winter Olympics, and in the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, China had only one gold medal. And Gu Ailing won two gold medals for China alone, which is also her greatest value to Beijing.
In contrast to Gu Ailing is Chinese-American figure skater Zhu Yi, who also grew up in the United States and also competed as a Chinese national, but she made a mistake during the competition and missed the medal. Views of the two men are polarized online in China. On the day of Zhu Yi’s fall, the popular Weibo entry #zhuyifall# had 2 billion views, and many people commented on her. But soon the entry, along with the abusive comments, was deleted, and news about her soon disappeared.
There are many athletes in the United States representing other countries in the Winter Olympics, but it is rare to see other countries make a big fuss about it. And Gu Ailing has become part of the representative of China’s national image, which is the result of the authorities’ shaping, screening and censorship, and even gave her a legal green light for her unknown nationality.
In addition, Gu Ailing and the international students who are caught between China and the United States are in different situations. In an interview, she said: “When I am in the United States, I am an American. When I am in China, I am a Chinese.” For many international students, on the contrary, they are Americans in China, and Xiaopink calls them foreign forces. In the United States, they are Chinese again, and they are in a state of cultural homelessness, but Gu Ailing can switch identities freely and proudly show her two cultural backgrounds.
Source: Watch China
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