When China's women's volleyball team
won their nation's 26th and final gold medal of the Rio Olympics, the
celebrations were tinged with more than a little annoyance.
The
cause of the irritation was that somehow, once again, an incorrect
version of the Chinese flag was hoisted high during the medal ceremony.
Chinese
fans took to social media to vent their anger. There was a resurgence
in a hashtag which translates as "Rio Olympics Using Wrong Chinese
National Flag"; which has been used more than eight million times on the
Sina Weibo micro-blogging platform. This time most of those using it
were asking variations of the same question: 'How could the Rio Olympics
make the same mistake again?'.
On the first day of the games, the
incorrect flag was used during the medal ceremony of the women's 10m
air rifle with China's Du Li and Yi Siling as silver and bronze medal
winner respectively.
The errors in the flag were immediately pointed out and produced an
apology from Mario Andrada, Communications Director for Rio 2016. New
correct flags were swiftly ordered and were used for almost all of the
remaining medal ceremonies in which China was involved. So there was
considerable disbelief when the wrong design resurfaced right at the end
of the Olympics.
The Rio Olympic committee is reportedly investigating how this happened and is expected to tender an official apology to China.
One
Weibo user complained,: "Making such a mistake again is really absurd!
Chinese people can't accept the apology from Rio Olympic Committee."
So what were the errors in the incorrect flag?
The proper Chinese flag features one big star surrounded with four smaller stars against a red background.
THE CORRECT FLAG
The larger yellow star represents the Communist Party of China, and
the four smaller stars symbolise the solidarity of Chinese people of all
social classes and ethnic groups under the leadership of the CPC. In
the correct version the four smaller stars all point towards the big
star.
But in the inaccurate one that appeared at Rio 2016 the four smaller stars were parallel to each other.
THE INCORRECT FLAG DISPLAYED IN RIO
When the wrong flags first appeared some media reports mistakenly claimed that they had been manufactured in China.
But
this was strongly denied by a spokesman for the firm that was blamed,
Zhejiang Wuyi Jinyu Textile Co Ltd. A company spokesman said: "We are
not responsible for the wrong Chinese national flags that are used at
the Olympics ceremonies. The national flags we've manufactured are for
the audiences.. Being Chinese, how can we get the Chinese national flags
wrong?! "
Later the Rio Olympic committee admitted that the offending Chinese flags were made in Brazil and promised to investigate.
However,
this has failed to pacify some Weibo users. "Rio Olympics is rubbish,"
wrote one user called Kepler. "Not only were the referees not fair, but
also getting the Chinese national flags wrong again. Brazil has no
qualification to hold and compete in the Olympics."
Another
commenting using the name Ghz joked, that there was at least one
positive: "This Olympic ends. My big gain is that I finally know what
the Chinese national flag looks like. Thanks Rio!"
