Chinese social media users are up in arms with Canadian Simu Liu for calling China a third-world country
WASHINGTON, Sept 10 — Canadian actor Simu Liu has found himself in a pickle with Chinese social media users after a 2017 clip of him saying China is a third-world country resurfaced recently.
Today reported that the clip was shared by pro-China online forum Diba showing the 32-year-old Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings actor making the remark during an interview for the 150th anniversary of Canada.
In the interview, the Harbin-born actor shared how his parents would tell him about the living conditions when they were in China.
“When I was young, my parents would tell me these stories about growing up in communist China,” Liu, whose parents had moved to Canada when he was five, said.
“They lived in the third world where you have people dying of starvation.
“And they felt that Canada is a place where they can live freely and give their child a better future.”
This led to a storm in China where internet users slammed him for “insulting China”.
“If that’s the case, why does he still want to act as a Chinese?” said one social media user while another wrote: “Has he thought that many years later, he would have to come to China to grovel?”
Other social media users commented it is a good thing that Shang-Chi has yet to be approved for screening in China.
Although Shang-Chi set a North America box office record during its opening recently, it has been snubbed in China.
While there is no official explanation as to why the movie is not released there yet, speculation is rife that the country’s censors have taken issue with the racist origins of the Shang-Chi comic book.
Hong Kong actor Tony Leung’s villainous Wenwu (originally named the Mandarin) was believed to be inspired by Dr Fu Manchu, a fictional character that’s now considered a racist Chinese caricature.
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