CHINA / SOCIETY
ELLE Taiwan irritates netizens for referring to island as a nation
Published: Aug 01, 2021 10:53 PM
 
A screenshot of the Facebook account of ELLE Taiwan

A screenshot of the Facebook account of ELLE Taiwan


 
Fashion magazine ELLE faced a backlash from Chinese netizens on Sunday after its Taiwan edition described the victory of athletes from the island in badminton men's doubles final at the Tokyo Olympics as a "national celebration," referring to Taiwan as a nation.

According to screenshots of the posts published by netizens on Sina Weibo, ELLE Taiwan released posts on its Instgram and Facebook accounts minutes after Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin from the island of Taiwan defeated Liu Yuchen and Li Junhui from the Chinese mainland in the men's doubles final on Saturday.

"Win! Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin won glory for Taiwan by defeating the Chinese team and getting the gold medal, which deserves a national celebration," read the posts. 

The Global Times found that ELLE Taiwan had edited the posts as of Sunday, removing "defeating the Chinese team" and "national celebration."

Photo: A screenshot from Facebook

Photo: A screenshot from Facebook



However, the original post has encountered floods of criticism against the magazine on social media platforms on the mainland, after the screenshots went viral online. Related hashtags on Sina Weibo had been viewed nearly 400 million times as of Sunday night.  

"Don't make money from Chinese people if you are a double-dealer on the issue of China's sovereignty," one Weibo user commented. 

"I won't read disgusting and hypocritical ELLE magazine anymore," said another. 

Facing netizens' backlash, ELLE's branch on the Chinese mainland released a post on Sina Weibo late Saturday, stressing that "the island of Taiwan is an integral part of China." ELLE's mainland edition also sent congratulations to both teams of players from the island and the mainland.  

Elle Magazine, a worldwide lifestyle magazine of French origin that focuses on fashion, beauty, health and entertainment, was first published on the mainland in 1988 and on the island of Taiwan in 1990. 

The Global Times tried to contact ELLE's headquarters and ELLE Taiwan on Sunday, but failed to reach for a comment as of press time. 

ELLE Photo: Sina Weibo

ELLE Photo: Sina Weibo


ELLE is also facing another awkward situation as it used Chinese-Canadian pop star Kris Wu for the cover of its August issue. Wu was detained by Beijing police on suspicion of rape on Saturday night. 

Global Times