Video - Supermodel New Year Typo Causes Uproar in China

Chinese supermodel Liu Wen, a huge celebrity in Asia, sparked a backlash after sending a new year's message to her many fans on Instagram.

Posing together with Wendi Deng (the former wife of business tycoon Rupert Murdoch), Miss Liu used the phrase "Happy Lunar New Year", rather than "Chinese New Year", prompting a Chinese social media backlash accusing her of neglecting her Chinese heritage.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It would appear even saying Lunar New Year rather than Chinese New Year hurts the feelings of Chinese netizens <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%E5%88%98%E9%9B%AF?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#刘雯</a> <a href="https://t.co/StztqSKF1V">https://t.co/StztqSKF1V</a></p>&mdash; William Miller (@miller_wf) <a href="https://twitter.com/miller_wf/status/965896815068483585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2018</a></blockquote>

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Comments ranged from: "If even Chinese people don't respect their own culture, how can you expect others to respect you?"

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"You called it Chinese New Year last year, but Lunar New Year this year - disgusting!"

"If you want to become Vietnamese so badly, get out and don't come back to China."

The supermodel, realizing the mistake, immediately changed the message to say "Happy Chinese New Year".

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Chinese model Liu Wen has sparked a backlash after wishing fans Happy Lunar New Year, rather than Chinese New Year <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/YearoftheDog2018?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#YearoftheDog2018</a> <a href="https://t.co/WEE7dUg91p">https://t.co/WEE7dUg91p</a></p>&mdash; delcrookes (@hairydel) <a href="https://twitter.com/hairydel/status/965948348665614336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2018</a></blockquote>

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Some users also came to her defense though, saying:

"Happy new year! The people who have a problem with the word 'Lunar' need to go back to school to study English."

"Both greetings are ok. You shouldn't change it just because of some online bullying. This would enhance those who try to push their way by online bullying."

Source:

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2133954/chinese-supermodel-liu-wen-slammed-instagram-referring-lunar-new