Mainland Chinese media outlets and social media users have called for a boycott of a Taiwanese chain after one of its hotels in Paris refused to fly the national flag during the Olympics. Changanjie Zhishi, a social media account run by the official newspaper Beijing Daily, published an editorial on Friday saying that the Paris hotel, owned by Evergreen Laurel, had “hurt the feelings of our compatriots, forgotten our ancestors and betrayed us. We can’t tolerate it!” The editorial said the company had “provoked trouble on issues concerning China’s national interests and national dignity” and would face “resolute resistance and even a permanent ban”.
Earlier this week, two videos shot in Paris published by a blogger surnamed Zhang went viral on social media. One of the videos, published under the account name Instructor Zhang’s Interesting Life, showed that the Evergreen Laurel Hotel in Paris had hung many flags in the lobby, but the Chinese mainland flag was apparently nowhere to be seen. It also showed Zhang speaking to a mainland chef working at the hotel, who said that a manager from Taiwan had requested that the Chinese flag be taken down.
In another video, the hotel appeared to refuse Zhang’s request to put the Chinese flag back up, saying that all the other flags would also be taken down. As of Friday, the two videos had more than 3 million views on microblogging site Weibo, and the same clips on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, had earned nearl.