

From No Other Love actor Mizuhara Kiko to 16-year-old Taiwanese K-pop singer Tzuyu, viral apologies to the Chinese people are all the rage in the celebrity world this year, as being a star gets more and more political — not political as in Taylor Swift-Kanye West political, but actually political.

Social activist and one of the leaders of the Sunflower Movement Wang Yi-kai has decided to turn the somber mood of these apologies around by launching a satirical event on Facebook called the “First Annual ‘Apologise To China’ Contest,” drawing web users from Taiwan, Macau, Hong Kong, etc. to air their grievances against the mainland.



The rules are simple, whoever gets the most likes on their post at the end of the competition will be crowned the winner.

Wang himself started off the thread by cracking wise on China’s pollution problems, writing, “Sorry that our [Taiwan’s] sky is so blue.”



Others played around with the fact that the event was hosted on Facebook:

“I apologize to China on behalf of the organizers for hosting this on Facebook. It must be tiring to have to first get past the Great Fire Wall before criticizing us,” wrote Zach Li.

“I’m sorry that I grew up in a free democratic country,” wrote Lucey Hsieh.

“Sorry I only know how to use Google, not Baidu,” wrote Hamish Evans.

Facebook users have also commented on the bad behavior of Chinese tourists abroad:

“Sorry Taiwan doesn’t have Chinese tourists anymore,” Ho Pink wrote.

“I’m sorry I didn’t fill my plate with all the shrimps from the buffet table last night. I actually left some shrimps for the person behind me. If I were back in Beijing, this bourgeois behavior would not have happened. I beg for the Party’s forgiveness,” Steve Tran wrote.

Obviously, he was referring to a video of a wild buffet feeding frenzy at a Thailand hotel that went viral earlier this year. In case you missed it, watch here:



The recent Hague Tribunal ruling was also a point of mockery. Soon after the decision against Beijing’s South China Sea claims was announced, an image was spread by People’s Daily reading: “China, not one inch can be taken away.”



One Facebook user made a parody version of the viral image from Mongolia’s perspective:



吳肯特 commented on the bizarre behavior of Chinese patriots after the ruling, “Sorry, I’m Taiwanese, so I didn’t smash my iPhone in response to the Tribunal ruling.”

As the posts increased and the event’s popularity spread, Wang posted about some of the backlash he had received from Chinese netizens. “People have started to hear about this on Weibo and are coming on Facebook to declare war. Funnily, the first thing they want me to do is to apologize for hosting the ‘First Annual Apologizing to China Competition.’ This is too cute,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, on Weibo, Chinese netizens have creatively hit back with a thread titled, “First Annual ‘Apologise to Taiwan Province’ Contest,” containing equally salty comments.

Welp, that “alliance” didn’t last long.

By Sarah Lin