The signboard of a pet shop in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province which provoked a diplomatic incident by substituting Mao Zedong's picture for a dog. This picture was posted on Web portal xiangshu (http://www.xiangshu.com).
Chairman Mao's Long Arm Strikes Korean Pet Shop
A pet shop in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province has bowed to international pressure over a sign in its window that showed the head of a dog emblazoned on Tiananmen gate. The gate in fact bears the likeness of chairman Mao Zedong. According to China’s Global Times, the shop has now removed the offending composite picture after the Cheoin-gu district office of Yongin City, responding to complaints from Chinese netizens, dispatched staff to the shop.
The owner of the pet shop said, "I got a call from the Korean Embassy in China and the Foreign Ministry, asking me to remove the signboard. And Chinese students in Korea also called nonstop to protest saying that the signboard offends China's pride." The owner explained he had no intention of insulting China but simply thought the signboard, which also showed the Great Wall of China, would look cute.
The international protest appears to have been sparked by a picture of the signboard taken by a Chinese student in Korea and posted on a Web portal. Protests from Chinese Internet users at one stage threatened to erupt into a diplomatic incident when the Chinese Foreign Ministry summoned an official from the Korean Embassy in Beijing to protest and request corrective measures.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
No comments:
Post a Comment