The Chinese government has embarrassed netizens by blasting China’s one-child policy, which has been in place for decades, in honor of Margaret Mac Neil’s success in winning the Olympic gold medal.
On July 26, in Tokyo, Mac Neil gained international fame after winning Canada’s first gold medal in the 100-meter women’s butterfly, defeating Chinese swimmer Zhang Yufei and at the same time setting records in the Americas. I did.
Mac Neal’s success also drew attention to her Chinese heritage. Both Western and Chinese state media reported that a 21-year-old child was an abandoned baby in China and was later adopted by Canadian couples Edward Mack Neil and Susan Macknea. ..
Speculation about Mac Neal’s real parents led China’s blog website Weibo’s netizens to blame the country’s one-child policy for preventing the birth of at least 400 million people as of 2014, when the campaign ended. I did.
The one-child policy, launched by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1979, was an attempt to artificially manage China’s population. Approximately 324 million Chinese women were regularly transplanted with intrauterine contraceptive devices to carry out rigorous campaigns, and 108 million were sterilized between 1980 and 2014. rice field.
According to her profile on the Canadian Olympic Commission website, Mac Neil was born in February 2000 in Jiujiang, a city in Jiangxi province in northwestern China.
Weibo, censored by the CCP, praised McNeil as a “Chinese contestant” and hashtagged her victory. By August 6, it had over 400 million views and some users even suggested helping them find their real parents in China.
“Canada contestant Mac Neil won the gold medal in 0.05 seconds with a female 100-meter butterfly, especially Mac Neil, who is a Chinese contestant,” says the sentence at the top of the page.
But Chinese netizens Beaten up To Beijing trying to recognize the achievements of Mac Neal’s ancestors.
“”[She is] Canadian! We abandoned her and stopped trying to profit from her glory, “writes one netizen.
“In China’s overall social context, isn’t there a lot of prejudice against daughters towards sons? [cases] Isn’t it an inherently bad habit around me? Another netizen wrote. “It’s not embarrassing that she’s a Chinese descendant, and it’s not embarrassing that she won on behalf of Canada, but” she’s a Chinese descendant but won on behalf of Canada. So it’s embarrassing, “those who think are true embarrassment. “
Another netizen said, “There are many healthy young girls suitable for adoption in China,” and many foreigners are visiting China just for that reason.
The CCP’s one-child policy has fostered gender inequality, especially in rural China. In the countryside of China, traditional beliefs prefer male children who are better suited to perform agricultural labor and are responsible for inheriting family pedigree.
According to China’s 2000 census data, the mortality rate for boys in Jiangxi Province at that time was 31.36%, while the mortality rate for women was 78.5%.
Outside hitter Zhu Ting, who led the Chinese women’s volleyball team to victory at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, also attracted the attention of netizens who criticized the one-child policy.
Zhu’s family, with six daughters, clearly violated the Chinese Communist Party’s policy. However, authorities praised the athlete, dubbing the family as “the most beautiful family in Henan.”
This came due to a bitter comment by the netizens. One post about Weibo is: 400 million babies … How many Olympic champions, tech giants and maestro are there? “
Eva Fu and Frank Fang contributed to this article
