Chinese actress Yang Mi said she’ll end her cooperation with the
luxury fashion label after a controversy erupted online over claims that
its T-shirt design defied the “One China” policy.To get more
chinese news outlets, you can visit shine news official website.
relates to Versace Loses Chinese Brand Ambassador Amid T-Shirt
Controversy.A photo from Sina Fashion’s official account showing cities
and country origins.Source: Sina Fashion via Weibo
Yang, Versace’s first Chinese brand ambassador, issued a notice to the
company to end her contract and stop all work with the brand after its
T-shirt listed Hong Kong as a country rather than a city. It did the
same for Macau. Both are special administrative regions of China.
Yang said Versace has harmed China’s sovereign and territorial
integrity, according to a statement posted Sunday on the official Weibo
account of Jiaxing Xingguang, the actress’s studio. Versace has
apologized and removed the T-shirt. Hong Kong, a former British colony,
became a special administrative region of China in 1997.
Versace’s T-shirt is the latest in a string of faux pas by foreign
companies when it comes to dealing with China. Last year, Dolce &
Gabbana’s video ad that showed a Chinese model struggling to eat
spaghetti and pizza with chopsticks sparked outrage and a boycott of its
products. Earlier this year, Leica Camera AG quickly distanced itself
from a promotional video that prompted a backlash against the company in
China for partially focusing on the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy
protests.
Stuart Weitzman Spring Celebration 2019
Yang MiPhotographer: Cindy Ord/Getty Images for Stuart Weitzman
The controversy around the T-shirt also comes as sensitivities around
China and Hong Kong have intensified in the past two months with
anti-Beijing protests in the city in their 10th week. This weekend, the
demonstrations spilled over from city streets to a sit-in at the
airport, the world’s third-busiest in terms of international passengers.
China also clamped down on Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. after employees
of Hong Kong’s dominant airline joined the protests, one of the
strongest signs that Chinese authorities are losing patience with the
months-long demonstrations sweeping the former British colony.
Versace apologized in its own official Weibo account post for the “wrong
design” that incorrectly attached country names to cities. The T-shirts
were taken off its shelves on July 24 and have been “destroyed,” it
said.
“This is our negligence and we are deeply sorry about the impact we
caused,” Versace said in the post, adding that it “resolutely respects
China’s sovereignty.”
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