I don't normally bother writing an entire article in response to a Chinese news article. Frankly, @bossel 's "China News Roundup" does a better job of keeping abreast of China's moronic media than I ever could, so I prefer to focus on historical issues and their present-day significance. But the self-anointed "Central Nation" has reached a level of pouting, petulant juvenility today that is so pathetic, even by their usual dubious standards, that I can't help but call them out for it.
It begins with the Olympics. A Chinese gymnast in the men's games was beaten by a Japanese gymnast by 0.4 points. Now, in a mature, civilized country, you take your silver medal and bow out gracefully. But in the Chinaverse, that's simply not how it's done. In the Chinaverse, for the "Celestial Empire" to be beaten by the "Dwarf Barbarians" of "Xiaoriben," is simply unthinkable. And of course, in the childish fashion that exemplifies China's entire... let's say "culture" for lack of a better word, the Chinese internet exploded in a frenzy of "WAAH! YOU MUST HAVE CHEATED! WAAAH!" comments.
To begin with, Chinese netizens did the only thing they know how to do when their sad, sick little country doesn't get every trophy. They insisted the judges were biased, pointing out that the gold medalist was from the host country. Funny how they made no such allegations of bias over any Chinese gold medalists at Beijing, 2008, but whatever. Chinese state-run nationalist tabloid Global Crimes Times, which has a funny habit of not putting the names of authors on any of their articles so these writers don't have to deal with the shame of having written such drivel, claimed "numerous sources" said that the final score elicited "boo's" from the crowd, in an attempt to claim "the world agrees with China (Global Times Staff)." For the record, I've seen plenty of videos of the moment the scores were called out and have not seen a single "source" claiming this, other than Chinese netizens who weren't anywhere near Tokyo.
But of course, "eef Chah-na eez no getta all plizes den cleyah-lee jodges eez bias! (1)"
If you're thinking "this sounds like a spoiled schoolyard brat crying because he didn't get first prize in everything," that's exactly what it is. Of course, this behavior from China is not new. Back in 2012, when China didn't win as many gold medals as they felt entitled to at the London Olympics, the same paper ran an article claiming the internationally agreed-upon rules for sports in general were "biased" against Beijing (Shen). This is the inevitable result when Chinese viewers are fed an endless diet of rhetoric about the invincibility and unbeatability of their athletes and then find their "heroes" outperformed. And yes, this behavior is unique to China. There is no other nation where this "if we didn't win then clearly the judges were biased" mentality is so pervasive and is even pushed by the State Media.
As to the explanation of the score (not that the judges owe the Chinese media any explanation), the Chinese silver-medalist was deducted points for failing to stand at attention at the end of his routine to demonstrate that he was finished, as per standard Olympic etiquette that has been in place for decades. The Japanese athlete who won gold did indeed make several mistakes in his performance.
...How fitting, then, that the reason for China's failure boils down to an absence of manners, dignity, or respect for basic etiquette.
There's a lesson to be learned here, China, if you've got the brains to see the obvious and the humility to be taught. But then again, if you had either of those then you wouldn't be China, would you?
(1) "If China is no get all prizes then clearly judges is bias," in the closest approximation that I can render on a keyboard to the average English pronunciation I heard during my seven miserable years in China.
Works Cited
Global Times Staff. "Chinese Question Fairness of Olympic Judges After Japan’s Hashimoto Wins All-Around Gold." Global Times. 29 July, 2021. Web, 29 July, 2021. https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202107/1229972.shtml
Shen, Daniel. "Rules are Just Another Tool of Global Games." Global Times. 8 July, 2012. Web. 29 July, 2021. https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/725633.shtml