`JUMP INTO THE SEA AND DIE'

Canadian in China slammed over drunken rant at police

In the ongoing saga of Canada's fractured relations with China, it is undoubtedly one of the oddest chapters.

A part-time lecturer with a prestigious Canadian business school drunkenly yelled at police in China to shoot him — like he said officers in Canada would do — in an incident that was captured live on video and went viral across Chinese social media.

What appears to have been the quarrelsome antics of an inebriated Canadian soon turned into a chance for Chinese citizens to vent about ill-mannered foreigners.

Angry internet users urged the data-analytics expert, who founded a company in China, to go back to Canada, calling him “trash” and arrogant.

“These fake foreign devils are rampant in China; who gave them the courage?” asked a commenter on one blog site. “To earn money from the Chinese, but also to scold China! Deportation, never entry!"

“Canada can't really produce any good things,” wrote another.

The teacher of marketing data courses at York University's Schulich School of Business “solemnly” apologized to police in the city of Qingdao — part of the eastern Shandong province — for the trouble caused by his “improper” remarks.

Police had stopped the driver of the car he was in, part of an operation set up in response to a local beer festival, various local media reported.

The individual, Ryan Zhao, could not be reached for comment.

Schulich said Zhao taught a course this summer but is not slated to do so in the fall semester.

“The school is looking into the matter and considering next steps,” said a spokesman for the Toronto-based institution.

The incident occurred just after the high-profile detention of Chinese-canadian pop star Kris Wu on suspicion of sexual assault, a coincidence many anti-canada online commenters were quick to point out.

Zhao, also known as Zhao Qiang, is listed on his Linkedin page as the founder of Chinese startup JMREX Data Technology and as a marketing instructor at Schulich, which calls itself Canada's “preeminent business school.”

Course outlines on Schulich and other websites indicate he has taught classes there on the use of data analysis in marketing at least since 2014.

The Linkedin profile indicates he has master degrees from the University of Toronto and Guelph University and has worked for Telus, Toronto Dominion bank and Shoppers Drug Mart, but is currently based in Zhejiang, China.

The National Post could not locate a full version of the video of the Canadian, only short clips and GIFS from it posted online.

But according to Chinese media reports, Zhao got out of the car he was in after police in Qingdao's Laoshan district stopped the vehicle on July 30 and heatedly confronted an officer with a camera. It turned out she was broadcasting video live on the internet.

Speaking Mandarin, he told her that he is a teacher and a Canadian, before making his unusual suggestion.

“You can draw your gun and shoot like a Canadian policeman . ... Why don't you do this?” reported info.51. ca, a Toronto-based Chinese-language news site. “I'm Canadian, you can shoot me, shoot me, no problem. Ah, you are a policeman and you can do whatever you want.”

The video also shows an officer trying to push a recalcitrant Zhao off the road, which causes him to exclaim “so rude.”

In a statement he posted later on Weibo, China's Twitter equivalent, Zhao acknowledged he had caused adverse effects with his improper words and deeds. “I solemnly apologize to the Laoshan traffic police,” he said, adding in a longer statement that he had already visited the station to say he was sorry.

But most of the 13,000 comments posted after his statement showed little sympathy, suggesting he was a self-important foreigner who considers himself superior to Chinese people — despite his ethnic Chinese background.

“On the one hand, this kind of person looks down on Chinese people and on the other hand they want to return to China to make money,” said one commenter. “Their heart is really distorted.”

“You should go back and let the Canadian police shoot you, so as not to pollute this land,” said another.

And in a similar vein: “Didn't you say that you want to be shot? Sober now, jump into the sea and die.”