Guiling Weibo [사진 출처 = 웨이보]Gu Ai-Ling (Aileen Koo, 19), who emerged as China’s top sports star by winning three medals, including two gold medals, to China at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, is being criticized by Chinese netizens for her post on social media.
On the 27th of last month (local time), Gui Ling left a heart emoji and several photos on Weibo, China’s largest SNS, saying, “Thank you, China.”
This post became a hot topic in China, recording about 425,000 likes and 77,000 comments as of 12:00 noon on the 2nd of this month, over the weekend.
However, some Chinese were outraged that Gu Ai Ling used the term ‘China’. In general, the word China is mostly used by foreigners, and it is known that Chinese people often refer to their country as ‘homeland’.
In response, some Chinese netizens criticized, saying, “After all, he is an American” or “Thank you, China, I will return to my homeland (United States).”
Born to an American father and a Chinese mother, Gu Ai-Ling, an American, was naturalized to China ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics and joined the Chinese ski team.
Unlike other naturalized players, he speaks fluent Chinese and has an excellent appearance. Due to such popularity, Gui Ling appeared in about 20 advertisements including luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton in China, earning up to 100 billion won, including 40 billion won in advertising revenue, and it is known that he recently returned to the United States.
Earlier, in an interview with USA Today, Gui Ling said, “After the Beijing Winter Olympics, I will return to the United States and continue my studies at Stanford University.”
He also said, “I still love skiing, but I can’t say for sure if I will compete in skiing in the future,” he said in a controversy in China.
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