Bazaar’s apologies over offensive post on war anniversary fail to quell netizens
Harper’s Bazaar China enraged Chinese netizens on Tuesday after the fashion brand used a derogatory term from the Japanese invasion period in a social media post, on the very anniversary of the Lugou Bridge Incident which marked the beginning of the nationwide War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-45).
Earlier on Tuesday, the magazine used the term liangminzheng (roughly translated as good citizen certificate) – which refers to the identification papers given to Chinese people living in regions in China that had fallen under the control of the Japanese pseudoregime during World War II – in a post complaining about the need for digital health code in public venues amid the COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s twitter-like Sina Weibo.
Under the pressure of waves of criticism from netizens, the magazine’s official account issued three apologies within five hours for the use of the term which had aroused huge discontent among netizens before the original post was removed.
The hashtag for the apologies had topped the Weibo trend and earned 350 million views within hours on Tuesday afternoon.
“The editorial team of Harper’s
Bazaar China and MiniBAZAAR always keeps in mind a spirit of patriotism and love for the Party, and will continue to improve our historical and political knowledge in the future,” read the first apology.
However, many Weibo users said the apology is unacceptable, with some questioning how come they dared to post such content on the 83rd anniversary of the Lugou Bridge Incident, and if they had forgotten the history that cost the lives of millions of Chinese people.
Some others questioned the mention of the Party in the apology statement, saying that the incident is a common yet painful memory for all Chinese nationals, so there is no need to single out any particular party.
Not anything can be entertainment even in the internet era. A sense of propriety and limit should always be maintained, observers noted.