Beijing: On the streets of Beijing, the French footballer Kylian Mbappé’s face still peeks out from the chilled drinks cabinets of China Post-owned newsstands.
From behind the glass fridge doors, a smiling Mbappé graces bottles of peach-flavoured sport drinks that promise to quench thirst and replenish electrolytes. They are clearly visible to passers-by with front-row billing alongside bottles of green tea, energy drinks and Coca-Cola.
But Mbappé’s face was absent from Chinese televisions this past weekend. Fans who wanted to see him slot an 11th-minute penalty against Racing Santander in the Spanish LaLiga match on Sunday were denied the chance. China’s state broadcaster CCTV did not air the match, despite a broadcast deal with LaLiga, Spain’s professional soccer league, amid an ongoing fallout over the Real Madrid star’s perceived slight against China’s founding leader Mao Zedong.
The great cancellation has not yet trickled down to street vendors.
A short walk through the inner suburbs of Beijing’s Chaoyang district revealed at least three kiosks and one supermarket were stocking the Mbappé-endorsed drink this week, after beverage giant Dongpeng joined several other Chinese companies in severing promotional deals with the star.
“I only saw the news about this in passing, so I don’t know exactly what he [Mbappé] said,” said 56-year-old Shi, who manages one China Post-owned street kiosk.
She had restocked her drinks cabinet with more Mbappé drinks since the weekend but was not sure whether the supplier would send more once this stock was sold.
However, her views on Mao help explain the genesis of the outrage, even as many Chinese people remain in the dark about the details of Mbappé’s remarks, which have been blocked by government censors, deemed too egregious to be broadcast to the masses.
“As a Chinese person, I grew up listening to Chairman Mao’s songs and quotations. My love and affection for Chairman Mao are beyond question,” Shi said.
‘My feelings for Chairman Mao are not something I can express in words; it’s something ingrained in my bones.’
Shi, Beijing kiosk manager
“I’m almost 60 now. It may be different for younger generation today. My feelings for Chairman Mao are not something I can express in words; it’s something ingrained in my bones.”
At another kiosk a few hundreds metres away, the operators also had no knowledge of the Mbappé scandal and no one had advised them to stop selling the Mbappé-promoted drinks, they said. “We don’t know about it,” said the kiosk manager, who declined to give his name, while his colleague pulled out her phone to search the news.
“These are matters of state. I’m not interested in that. All I care about is whether I can make any money at my shop today. National affairs are for the state to handle. They don’t have much to do with ordinary people like us.”
The Real Madrid striker was forced to issue an apology last week for a months-old interview in which he laughed at a meme depicting him as “some guy – I think he’s a Chinese dictator”. Real Madrid and LaLiga president Javier Tebas also issued apologies.
The meme in question showed Mbappé’s face photoshopped onto Mao’s body — one of many viral memes that depict the footballer as different dictators from history, in a joke that taps into his commanding presence inside teams.
Mao, who led China from 1949 until his death in 1976, remains widely revered by many in China, and is credited for ending China’s domination by imperialist forces and heralding its independence.
Discussion of his legacy is tightly controlled by Chinese authorities, especially when it comes to the catastrophic impact of the industrialisation campaign known as the Great Leap Forward, in the late 1950s and early ’60s, and the ensuing famine that killed millions of people, and the Cultural Revolution, from 1966, which triggered widespread violence and bloodshed.
The scandal has exposed the paradox of the Chinese censorship system that has fanned the flames of outrage while blocking the original content that would allow citizens to reach their own verdict, triggering some to go looking for answers.
‘What exactly did Mbappe do? I can’t find anything about it.’
Weibo post
To access the video of Mbappé’s interview, Chinese citizens need to use a virtual private network (VPN) to jump the Great Firewall that blocks them from accessing the Western internet, an act that is technically prohibited in China.
On social media, some people demanded that vendors cover up Mbappé’s face on the drinks packaging; others were perplexed about the origins of the scandal.
“What exactly did Mbappe do? I can’t find anything about it,” one person posted on Chinese microblogging site Weibo.
“Just search for it on the internet beyond China’s firewall and you’ll find it. They don’t let you see it on the Chinese internet…,” another user responded.
It remains unclear when the broadcast blackout will end and Real Madrid games will be aired again in China.
Government-owned China Media Group (CMG) said last week that “Mbappé’s outrageous remarks have harmed the Chinese people, crossed a line and exceeded the scope of freedom of speech”.
Lisa Visentin is the North Asia correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age based in Beijing. She was previously a federal political correspondent based in Canberra.Connect via X or email.From our partners
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
