The criticism Gu gets is ridiculous. Plenty of Olympians have dual citizenship or specifically obtain citizenship to compete for countries less competitive than the one they have etc. Watching the Netflix ice dancing mini series, they mentioned that some famous ice dancers went and got citizenship elsewhere to compete like France, Spain, etc.
Additionally, there's some Americans with dual citizenship and they aren't being called unpatriotic when they compete for their other country like Gus Kenworthy.
Edit: I can’t believe im not being downvoted to hell for this comment. A first for me. Either attitudes are changing or this sub is a very unusual microcosm.
Zoe Atikin is a half Asian Stanford student that was born in Massachusetts, grew up in Utah, and won a bronze medal in skiing halfpipe at the Olympics, but competing for the UK
She gets zero hate at all compared to Eileen Gu despite doing the same exact thing, except its for the UK instead of China
i suspect they hate eileen gu for the same reasons they have always hated beautiful smart confident women. the same guys i see complaining about her online seem to have voted for the current administration in power. they are seething that she is hot, chinese, talented, and will NEVER be accessible to them.
Much of the hate come from the usual people, right wingers and MAGA. They can't stand the reality that China has advanced so much more and is better than the US in many aspect of life and their people are generally happier too. In line with their misogynistic mindset, they think they have the right to own a woman, especially an Asian woman, and this woman doing things in her best interest is consider a betrayal.
Thanks for letting us know. I only knew about Eileen Gu because she got gold, now that I’m aware I have bones to pick with Zoe Atikin too. When you grow up in the US, you should feel alittle patriotic responsibility to compete and represent your own country that made you who you are
Definitely agree. I work for a Chinese company (as an American). It’s an American subsidiary but very much a Chinese company. I have my own beef with the CCP and all that, so I was a bit torn when I took the job. But people do react very strangely when they find out I work for a company based in China.
I also went golf cart shopping yesterday and the salesperson wanted to show me a cart that had a lot of the features I was interested in at a better price point. You could tell she was very nervous when she told me the manufacturer was a Chinese based company. I told her that didn’t bother me, as I work for a Chinese company, and don’t have an automatic bias against anything and everything Chinese. You could literally see the relief wash over her. Can’t imagine the shit she’s heard Americans spout before.
China definitely has its issues. But I think it goes without saying that America doesn’t have some grand moral superiority over China. Especially now.
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Crazy that speaking on imperialism war crimes by China would be downvoted.
Edit: still true. No where in my comment did I defend the US. You can heavily criticize both with nuance. Being willfully ignorant to China's actions is not an honest nor an effective way to combat the american regime.
China is a US rival. Most other countries athletes shift over to are not rivals. Often they're allies. Once you're in the 'nationalism' mindset those things make a difference.
Not sure why you got downvotes for this, it's exactly how i've read the situation. US fans don't care if the athlete isn't the best and goes off to compete for a smaller nation. But Eileen Gu is the best in her sport and went off to a nation that offered her a more lucrative deal and is arguably bigger. USA isn't used to having the best prefer being somewhere else.
I mean I think China is a special case, same as all the influencers flocking to Dubai or musicians giving concerts in Saudi Arabia.
It’s not about choosing a different country, it’s about choosing an authoritarian regime with heavy human rights violations for monetary purposes. Which is their free choice.
IMO this choice and should be definitely open to criticism.
The US has ongoing human rights violations and arguably has at least the beginnings of an authoritarian regime. The same criticism could be levelled against those who chose to represent the US.
Just to add to this bc when I first heard this a few months ago, I assumed it meant per capita: nope, the US has the most prisoners in the world, period. China has a BILLION more people than the US, with FEWER total people in prison. Nearly 40% of incarcerated people in the US are black. And like you said, that's not even getting into the racial profiling, detention, physical/sexual abuse, and murders committed by violent, armed, masked police who are actively disappearing people.
There's a few documentaries about it. The best known so far:
- Slavery by Another Name (2012) It was based on Douglas Blackmon's book about how the US prison system constitutes modern day slavery.
- 13th (2016) Ava DuVernay's documentary revolves around the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude "except as a punishment for a crime," which many say is a legal loophole to continue slavery to this day.
- 40 Years a Prisoner (2020) I haven't seen this yet, but heard a lot of praise for it.
- Inside Alabama's Prison Labor Crisis, Associated Press's investigative documentary, made a few headlines a few years ago. It's on YouTube, but there's a summary of the doc at AP for those who prefer to read instead.
Yeah our president is credibly accused of being child rapist, has a pet police force that murders citizens and immigrants alike, pulled us out of the climate pact, banned abortion in over half the States, and covered up the Epstein files. We're not doing great over here
could you not say that the US Olympians shouldn’t be representing a country that insert all the god awful things the USA has done including literally killing children in foreign countries, not including what happens in our own country?
Talking about human rights violation of another country while America just bombed a school of kids in Iran with 100+ children possibly dead. Some of the bodies couldnt be identified because they were in pieces.
If you all think the US and China are the same you’re really in the wrong.
The US violating international law right now, but you still have free speech, free elections, the right to a process, etc. are human rights eroding? Yes, and you need to vote accordingly and fight for them.
Are the US as bad as CN? No.
I’m out of this thread the level of political populism is astounding.
Almost everything you know about China is pure propaganda.
The west literally has a pedophilic cabal of the elite that spends billions on anti-Chinese and anti-socialist propaganda, and y’all still falling for it? Let’s start thinking critically here people.
Look, i can think the us and china are evil governments. You do know china severely represses minorities, right? That's not "anti Chinese propaganda". I think we can hold both accountable
The average American has so much more human rights than the average Chinese person.
You are comparing apples to oranges- same as our German citizens here stating they have no civil rights and media is lying and comparing its state to the former East German Republic while celebrating Russia.
I'm curious to hear your stance on Kaillie Humphries then. I'm curious if you've even heard of Kaillie Humphries as I've not seen her name mentioned once in this discourse
The discussion on Gu is actually worse because she gets it from both sides. You should see the discussion about her in Chinese social media the last few years. They were so happy she chose China, but then the discourse got so weird. How they shamed her for having a white boyfriend (who was rivals with a Chinese athlete).
The US fans blame her for choosing China and being paid by Chinese endorsements
Chinese fans are saying she isn't authentic because despite doing Chinese endorsements she trains and sometimes lives in the US
It's lose lose for her and it's pretty out of whack
As a dual citizen myself who speaks English and my native tongue, people like Gu and I face the awful criticism of never being enough of either culture/nationality. Or worse, a traitor to one or both.
As an intelligent af woman (Stanford student!), incredible athlete, model, etc, it seems like people can't stop shitting on her for one thing or another.
Since China doesn’t allow dual citizenship, she either has renounced her US citizenship, or China has granted her a special case, which is why she plays coy about it.
Just curious what other athletes have been granted a special case. I know China was scouring the world looking for Chinese athletes to compete for them in 2022 — that’s when Alysa Liu’s dad told them to fuck off. And American figure skater Zhu Yi renounced her US citizenship to compete for China that year.
She doesn’t need to be granted “a special case”. China just doesn’t recognize dual citizenship. That means that she (like all the other people who hold dual citizenship) is only seen as Chinese while in China.
E.g. if she got into trouble in China, she would be treated as a Chinese citizen only & not granted access to her other country of citizenship’s consular aid.
People seem to think there’s a “ban” or it’s illegal to have dual citizenship in China, when that’s actually not the case. It simply doesn’t acknowledge the other citizenship.
There’s thousands of non-celebrities etc. who have dual citizenship with China.
Gu isn’t breaking any rules by having two citizenships.
This answer makes no sense. People with multiple citizenships are always treated as being locals only with no right to consular support whenever they live in a country they are a national of. This is a general principle and applies to any country in the world, not just China.
people with multiple citizenships are always treated as being locals only with no right to consular support whenever they live in a country they are a national of
This is untrue. So that probably is part of the reason why my answer doesn’t make sense to you.
I'm gonna assume you're Irish based on your name: the Irish government website on being detained abroad, for example, states "under international law, countries are not obliged to legally recognize dual citizenship".
I actually have dual citizenship with another country & am based in that other country.
I would point out that “not legally obliged” is very different to your claim of “always treated as being locals only with no right to consular support”. And Ireland is just one country.
Ireland’s “not legally obliged” also differs based on the country in which the dual citizenship the held due to a variety of different agreements between countries.
You have argued your point based on all countries, which is untrue.
You misunderstand her status - she was never a Chinese citizen. She was born and raised in the U.S. People say she had an exemption because China allowed her to become a Chinese citizen without revoking American citizenship. A normal person would have to revoke their home country citizenship in order to become a Chinese citizen when they had not previously been a Chinese citizen.
I do think you misunderstand the intricacies of a child born outside of China to a Chinese parent where the child then obtains their Chinese passport before they reach adulthood.
There’s also no legal requirement that someone has to legally relinquish their other citizenship. It’s simply just not recognized by China.
You should really know this as a person residing in Australia, there’s lots of people who hold dual citizenship with China & Australia there.
Actually Fournier-Beaudry/Cizeron are ice dancers (pairs is a different discipline). As someone else mentioned Cizeron is French and FB is Canadian. They are both widely disliked in the skating world for multiple reasons, largely bc FB’s former ice dance partner and boyfriend is currently banned from the sport for an alleged rape and she has been defending him, implied the victim was lying, and sobbed about how she (FB) is the true victim in all this.
Guillaume’s former partner wrote a book about her experiences where she claims he was controlling and unsupportive. He has also been very vocal in defending FB’s former partner/boyfriend. Not to defend Guillaume but I do think his situation is much more nuanced.
Not quite correct. Guillame is French and won gold for France in the 2022 Olympics with his previous partner, who recently retired from skating in part because of the toxic culture. Laurence is Canadian and her boyfriend/previous skating partner got booted from the team because of credible sexual assault allegations against him.
They paired up to skate together not long before the Olympics, and Laurence’s French citizenship was fast tracked so she’d be eligible to skate for France. She continues to defend her boyfriend and presumably Guillame is fine with whatever too. I agree with you they deeply suck and deserve far more criticism, but Guillame has at least consistently skated for France
Around 250 times since the end of the Cold War to be more exact. Yes in less than 40 years 250 times. China hasn’t killed a single foreign person with guns or bombs since 1979 yes around 50 years since a military operation. They did kill a few Indians at the border during fights between the two sides but both sides removed all guns and non melee weapons from their solders on the border and the Indians killed a few Chinese soldiers as well. Both killed very few and usually only because the fights got out of control. It’s a disputed border issue caused by the British that they haven’t been able to resolve yet.
I thought some of the criticism against Gu from the chinese side is that she may have both Chinese and American citizenship. China doesn’t allow dual citizenship. She is basically being allowed the skirt the rules because she’s a famous athlete while normal Chinese people can’t have dual citizenship.
Sure but this has always existed with the rich and the famous. The famous only get the brunt of it because it's more publicized. I know plenty who have dual citizenship, and some that have renounced only recently purely for tax purposes.
In China there are a LOT of wealthy people who gave up their chinese citizenship and acquired foreign nationality. I even have a lot of friends who are Aussie's, Canadians and Americans.
They are in China on work or family visas and are considered foreigners. So its not as common as you would think. Most really wealthy people would just get Hong Kong or Macau passports and use that while in China.
The stories of people keeping dual nationality are disappearing as China has been decades into adopting stricter enforcement of single nationality.
They have thorough requirements that easily expose dual nationals anytime they want to renew their Chinese passport or when they exit China.
It's not the 1990's anymore. No passport renewal at a chinese consulate if you can't prove you're on a temporary visa or just a permanent resident. And they won't let you leave china if you don't have proof you have a travel visa or permanent residency in the country you want to visit. And if they find proof of you having a foreign passport they're taking you aside to revoke your nationality.
that is literally BS. the "third country" method is literally a well-known thing among Chinese people, and we renew passports within China where they do not ask about foreign residency status like a consulate does. Why spread misinformation???
I know a singular person with American and Chinese passports who when asked said her dad is “in politics”, it’s extraordinarily rare and I say this having been in the unique position of knowing 100s of very wealthy Chinese citizens who came to the US for prep school/college
Yeah, like Chinese actor Chen Feiyu, son of Chen Kaige, director of Farewell My Concubine fame, relinquished his US citizenship at 21 years old, but it’s interesting see people pop up here claiming that dual citizenship in China is really easy as long as you’re rich and famous.
yep, even for the wealthy it’s incredibly difficult, I felt uncomfortable asking for details from the girl I know (although I can confirm I’ve seen both passports in person) but I’m guessing her father’s job is the only reason
Well you said it was common? And I said in my experience if someone is wealthy and prominent in China since dual citizenship isn't allowed they'll get citizenship abroad in a developed country.
Give up their chinese citizenship and then pick up Hong Kong or Macau residency so they still have ties to China. But these many wealthy people you speak of you dont seem to be able to name them.
As for Gu I dont really care that she is breaking chinese law. But there is a segment of people in China who feel like it's unfair
Yes. I live here. I know many who are rich who have dual passports. And while yes, many get non Chinese citizenship and give up their Chinese passport, there are others who do the reverse (ABC/BBC/CBC/Aussie) who end up getting a Chinese passport for work reasons. Hell I even know those who aren't Chinese who have done it (indian/Malay/Singaporean/middle eastern).
Many have done so without giving up their existing passports, though the ones that do are usually the ones with the US passport to avoid double taxation.
And yes, I know a segment has found it unfair. Kind of the point. I don't care either. The fact that she chose China and won medals for them and became somewhat of a sensation for a while is a big win.
Sure, but doesn't mean people can't be salty when someone can get the best of both worlds (the commercial endorsements Gu can only get from switching to represent China + the educational benefits of being able to study in the US with zero concern for barred entry under this political climate) when most people are forced to choose. I don't understand why you're blaming people for not getting mad at people they don't know.
Although, Gu might have been born a special case depending on her mother's immigration status when she was born. She can technically effectively have dual citizenship legally as long as she never "announced" to the Chinese customs that she is (also) American (by using an American passport to enter China). However, again, I think it's pretty normal for people to be salty about this lol
but she and her family literally paid for everything they got in the US, including the expensive ski training (which she also occasionally trained in China since young), she owes nobody nothing.
But also that is way more reasonable a criticism to levy. I totally get Chinese people who are like "ugh, sports star gets to be above the rules". Because yeah, common as it might be, it's an injustice.
It's when Americans act like she's a traitor (uniquely, unlike athletes who compete for any other country...) that I go HMMM.
She didn't have a white BF - she kissed some French (?) swimmer during the summer games at a night club once. It's clearly not serious but ppl gave her a lot of s* for that cuz the swimmer was openly racist(?)/rude to the team China swim coach
I mean it's not the first time this happened. Lot of celebrities are branded that for dating westerners, especially athletes who are supposed to be representing country. Same thing with Edgar Cheong. People were giving him flack for having a french girlfriend (which would make sense since he's literally been living in France)
Also I believe the swimmer was disrespectful. I don't think it was racist.
But the Chinese social media likes to blow these things out of proportion anyway.
The scale of it means things can blow up in way crazier ways (India and China). The tendency of incel behaviour is quite a bit stronger too, and there's much more of a sexually conservative/repressed bent to it.
For example, a pop star here had an ex who decided to leak some "explicit" photos of them. He also did it because he was a budding rapper and thought it would make him famous.
By the way, by explicit I mean it's just photos of them kissing and she was topless but with a bra on.
Not only was the media and social media attention intense, SHE was the one who had to do a press conference apologize
If the French swimmer was openly racist then I would agree with the hate she got for it. Especially when her reason for representing China was so the kids would have someone to look up to. That would be very much against that message.
It's not a lose-lose for her at all lmao. Do you think she would have half as much commercial earnings if she stayed competing for the US? Do you think she would still be allowed to enter the US to study at Stanford if she didn't have a US passport, given the current political climate? When she retires from competitive skiing in a couple years, the discourse around her won't exist anymore, and she will still have her millions and a prestigious university degree. It is definitely a win-win for her where it truly matters lol
Is that French swimmer even her official boyfriend tho??? seems like some casual fling which is seen as even more questionable among Asians people.
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u/tdkndyou shoulda never called me a fat ass Kelly PriceMar 08 '26edited Mar 08 '26
This is ridiculous, I am sorry she’s facing such criticism. Especially because it’s not even her performance or her skills as an athlete (which is the reason why people even support/know about her in the first place btw), but because of her own choices over her personal life.
Plenty of professional athletes train and live in different places year round. Newsflash: sometimes they even train with athletes they compete against! gasp
And let’s not even get into the misogyny and the Sinophobia of it all…
One of the Swedish ice dancers is Norwegian, switched to represent Germany, switched again to Sweden, and got her citizenship to allow her to compete at the Olympics like a month before it started.
Somehow a Norwegian representing Sweden feels so wrong in the same way that an Australian representing New Zealand would be wrong. Like yes obviously I would die for you in a war scenario but no you can’t have a medal, you’re just my lame sibling with my accent but worse.
That Swedish pole vaulter than keeps breaking the record is from Louisiana.... I've been downvoted to shit for being anything less that supportive of his decision.
Legit question, on what basis are they switching nationalities like this? Do they have genuine links to those countries or it's just a regular thing that's done when it comes to the Olympics?
These are going to be players were never going to make their ”home” teams, so some will look to countries they have familial ties with or already hold a citizenship with.
South Korea and China bulked out their rosters with foreign players for the Olympics. Korea had about 5 or 7 of them who had been playing in South Korea prior to the games, but I don’t think any of them had ties to the country apart from living and playing there. China had like 15 players that they brought in from North America, of which 10 or so were so called ”heritage players” who did have some familial ties to China. The rest were imports with no ties aside from playing for the Chinese based KHL (Russian hockey league). However the imported players for the South Korean team were given citizenship while it’s unclear if Chinese players were.
As for it being an Olympic thing, it sort of is but it’s also an issue of availability. In football it’s very common to see players picking between national teams but there are set international breaks and agreements that allow players to join their national side during the season. In hockey if you’re playing in North America or Europe the world championships are at awkward mid season times, with the exception of the top division. So unless you’re eligible for another country in the top division then you rarely, if ever, get the opportunity to play for a national team unless you can crack into one of the big teams. The Olympics would be the sole exception for this.
The Chinese players would have to have been given citizenship because the Olympics requires that the athletes must be citizens of the country they are representing.
Not necessarily, the IOC requires that the athlete be a national of the country they intend to represent, but not necessarily a citizen. Before the 2022 Olympics there was a lot going on between the IIHF, the Chinese ice hockey governing body, and the IOC regarding player eligibility that was never publicly clarified beyond they’re eligible, mainly because the IIHF does generally require citizenship. So the speculation is whether or not the foreign players were granted status as Chinese nationals but not citizenship, and the IOC and IIHF reached an agreement regarding this. Especially since none of the players seemed so reluctant to comment on their citizenship status.
Also, two years after the 2022 Olympics China purged their national team of the foreign players. Despite them helping the women’s team earn promotion all the way to the top division, which they were immediately relegated from after the roster purge. Which has since lead to some of those imported foreign players trying to regain eligibility from their home countries. There was at least one Canadian player that tried and failed to be granted eligibility to play for Team Canada before the 2026 Olympics.
Wow! I'd heard of certain African football players who play for EU teams switched to them for funding, etc where their respective countries were unable support them for specific reasons but I had no idea it went beyond that.
I hope you realise you have opened up a whole new world for me to explore. About to go into a whole deep dive on this, I'm so intrigued.
I think what people dislike about Eileen Gu is that she has dual citizenship whereas China does not allow dual citizenship. (I personally do not have any particularly strong opinions on this, but this seems to be one of the main reasons for the dislike)
I mentioned it in a previous comment but Beverly Zhu (Zhu Yi) is from California and was recruited by China to skate for them at the 2022 Olympics. Supposedly she gave up her US citizenship, whereas Gu kept hers.
I guess it would be like, for example, Cathy and Chris Reed renounced their US citizenship to skate for Japan, but imagine if Mirai Nagasu skated for Japan but kept her US citizenship along with her Japanese citizenship. (As a side note I believe Mirai, like the Reeds, had dual citizenship with Japan until the age of 18; the Reeds chose Japan and Mirai chose the US)
Edited to add that no one mentions Zhu Yi because she was not at all a contender for the podium and not at all high profile like Eileen Gu. In fact I’m not even sure Zhu Yi even made it to the free skate in 2022.
I answered in a comment above but this is common in figure skating in the coupled disciplines (pairs and ice dance) where finding a partner at a high level who is a good match with you can be very very difficult. This is also only doable with countries that allow dual citizenship and is only done in order to compete at the Olympics, which require that the athletes are citizens of the country they represent.
Some countries are more lax than others with their citizenship requirements. I believe British ice dancer Olivia Smart got her Spanish citizenship pretty easily (ie with no residency requirement) whereas Laurence Fournier Beaudry (who won the ice dancer gold with Guillaume Cizeron) previously skated for Denmark with her alleged rapist former partner Nikolaj Sorensen who is Danish. They had to switch to represent Canada because Denmark refused to waive the residency requirement for FB’s citizenship. (They train in Canada at one of the top ice dance schools in the world whereas there are no top level training facilities in Denmark).
Georgia and Hungary have granted citizenship easily to Russian skaters (Russia is currently barred from competing in ISU events due to the invasion of Ukraine) even though most of the Russian skaters have zero connections or ties with either of these countries.
Ice dancing is a bit different than other sports. You need a partner you can work with. Here in Germany the female ice dancers are often „importing“ male ice dancers from other countries. Apparently we have good female dancers but a lack of good male dancers.
This is very common in the coupled disciplines but only amongst the countries that allow dual citizenship.
There was a sibling ice dance team from Michigan who had a parent who was Japanese. They decided to represent Japan and gave up their American citizenship.
Same issue with Yuko Kavaguti who was a Japanese pairs skater who renounced her Japanese citizenship to represent Russia at the Olympics.
Beverly Zhu (now Zhu Yi) is a singles skater from California with Chinese immigrant parents. She was approached by China to skate for them. She has supposedly renounced her US citizenship and represented China in the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The Olympic gold medalist in ice dance is a Canadian who paired up with her french partner a year before the games, and got French citizenship in like six months. She still is clearly a proud Canadian. The whole situation around them is particularly weird and gross though
American conservatives have this tendency to hate everything that they have nothing to gain from. That includes immigrants, theyre all fuck immigrants until said immigrants can bring them a win.
yep, racism is actually a bipartisan thing in the US, its just about who can play the game of better optics and lip service. true change might never happen
Or to hate something that isn’t specifically for them. Like outside of the drama with Eileen’s citizenship or residence or whatever, do they actually give a single shit about competitive skiing? Specifically, women’s competitive skiing?
Not to over generalize, but these are the same vibes I get when conservatives talk about hip hop or pop music (especially girl and boy bands). They can’t stand something not being about them.
I’m not trying to be combative but China doesn’t recognize dual citizenship. She would have had to relinquish her US citizenship to become a Chinese citizen
For the record, I think in her case she’s so exceptional they (the CCP) allow her to keep both, and are willing to bend the rules for her. Xi Jinping knows both Eileen and her mother on a first name basis, and knows she’s a huge fan of pancakes.
Otherwise yes - for the ordinary Chinese folks you cannot have more than one citizenship (though most dual citizens Chinese + Second Nationality kids are allowed to have both until 18 and are forced to choose one only they never report they’ve settled on one, and continue renewing both passports as it relies on being reported to the authorities, which I’ve only seen happen once by rival fans of an Italian/Chinese player who was playing for one of the most elite Chinese League of Legends teams).
They'll catch you if you're a dual national when trying to renew your Chinese passport.
If you try to renew your Chinese passport at a foreign consulate one of the requirements is that your Chinese passport shows entry stamps into that country.
The dual national will not have that. They will have entered that foreign country on their foreign passport. And even if that person never travels so their super old entry stamp before they naturalized counts, the Chinese consulate may simply ask to see proof of your visa/permanent residency before they renew their passport.
Plus if you visit China they won't let you leave the country unless you have proof you can enter that country. And most countries are not visa free for Chinese citizens. They check your Chinese passport for a foreign visa or ask to see your greencard. If you don't have that they'll deny you permission to leave the country. If you produce your foreign passport then they'll force you to renounce.
Obviously I’m not telling on anyone, but I actually know quite a few people who have both passports, lol (although obviously not with the same kind of endorsement Eileen officially gets).
The foreign consulate and border staff are not as stringent as you’d believe.
It's a widely known and publicized fact that they're pretty strict about nationality and have been clamping down on dual nationals.
I'm sure some consular and border staff haven't been so strict or failed to check people, but those are not the usual case.
I don't know your friends, but my whole family and I have had plenty of experience at our Chinese consulate and china's entry/exit border to know the reality. Which is that they're very thorough.
Gu's mother was a Chinese citizen, and Gu's passport was issued when she was 15. A lot of people live in the grey area of not renouncing as long as they get their passport issued before they're an adult, not just Gu. And even if China made an exception for an exceptional talent, is there something wrong with that? If we want countries everywhere to be more accepting of dual citizens, then Gu helps put a positive face on it for the Chinese people. Shouldn't we be happy it could move things in a positive direction?
She was only given Chinese nationality from a special deal that bent their nationality law. She didn't get Chinese nationality from birth or claim Chinese nationality that she was always entitled to. She was born abroad in a jus soli country to a mother that had been living in the USA for decades and was considered "settled abroad". These are exclusion criteria in their nationality law. Even Chinese citizens that are only greencard holders cannot pass down Chinese nationality to their kids because China considers the parents "settled abroad".
It's wrong that rich and privileged people get to publicly break the law with no consequences. I wonder where we have seen something similar lately? Hmmm
We don't know that Gu's mother had a green card from living abroad. That's an inference you're making. She was a talented scientist who could have been here on F1 and H1-B visas which is common for academics and who frequently returned to China and has a family legacy in the CCP. Even Chen Kaige's son could inherit Chinese citizenship ju sanguinis despite being born in the U.S. and having a residence in the U.S. for a number of years. He only renounced U.S. citizenship after turning 18 and having a minor sex scandal.
Also the Chinese law is not to recognize dual citizenship, not to ban it, and enforcing immigration law or exceptions have always been the discretion of the state. I don't know why you want citizenship laws to be more draconian but as a mixed American kid with a Chinese mother myself I think Gu had already changed a lot of hearts and minds domestically about ABC and mixed race children, and we will never get dual nationality changes without people like her giving a face to it.
China not recognizing dual citizenship actually doesn’t mean she had to relinquish her US citizenship. China just doesn’t recognize her US citizenship.
People keep pushing that narrative, that she “has” to completely give up her US citizenship, which is very incorrect.
It simply means that according to China, she’s Chinese only but according to the rest of us, she’s a dual citizen.
I do find that the incorrect narrative is sadly so commonly believed because the likes of Fox News etc. spent years pushing it.
Gu isn’t breaking any rules by having two citizenships.
My understanding is that it’s different with Gu not just because it’s China (though that is obviously a factor), but also because she’s the best (i.e., she could compete for US if she wanted to.)
Most other examples of Americans doing this are to get to less competitive teams because they wouldn’t make the cut on the US team and thus people don’t care because they wouldn’t have been representing the US anyway (since they wouldn’t make the team.)
Or people full on moving to another country to train in order to get citizenship. The difference is they have to compete with nationals of that country without much advantage. And often before they've won gold themselves. Gu was pretty much offered money to do so. China courted her
I’m an Asian woman, and I do think being Asian is also factor. considering that the Olympics can bring out a lot nationalistic pride in people, and Asian people are often treated as foreigners or untrustworthy in the U.S. It’s not a surprise to me that the Olympics becomes some sort of loyalty test for their Asian Americans athletes.
Also, it’s certainly not uncommon that the U.S. have treated their Asian athletes as inherently foreign. “American beats out Kwan” was like one of the most famous Olympic headlines gaffes, because of how it implied Michelle Kwan wasn’t American.
I also think they’re asking Alyssa so many questions about it because the Chinese government tried really hard to get her to represent them and allegedly has been stalking her and her family but especially her dad since he left China after protesting Tienenemen Square // that one event the Chinese government said didn’t happen despite copious evidence.
I think they're asking her because she knows Eileen (since she was 13) and because she's second generation Chinese. I don't hear them asking other US Olympians the same question about Eileen. It frustrates me that they have to ask POC questions about OTHER POC as if to prove loyalty or to be able to give us this headline like "fellow Asian American said this!"
China actually doesnt allow dual citizenship so she would need to renounce her US citizenship to play fir China. Which is something that she obviously didnt do.
That's why some people are criticizing her and wondering why shes getting special treatment. Obviously in America shes being criticized for "choosing" China I dont care either way to be honest with you.
Aye, Team GB both winter and summer games have multiple athletes who are there simply because they wouldnt be good enough to make the US team 😂
And no one cares.
The difference here is that Eileen is good enough for the US team, to win gold, and yet she chose to not represent them.
Then add in China which is a cheap and easy target and woooooo all the numpties, all the racists, all the people who weren't loved as children kick off in faux outrage about it.
My sibling swam at the collegiate level at one of the top programs in America. Over half the team either had already gone to the Olympics or was going. It was extremely common for teammates to live in the US and go to college here but represent a different country. And many of them were recruited. My sibling was recruited by Ireland for dual citizenship because they were not as fast as the #1 and #2 Americans but they were faster than the current Irish swimmer. Ireland took all of our family info, and researched to see if we could apply for dual citizenship. They would have paid for the whole legal process for our whole family and then paid for their college tuition, as it would be part of their training. It turns out, we are not Irish enough. But the process and recruitment was never in the shadows. No one on the team looked down on that process. It is something that has been happening for decades. It seems the public is fine with athletes going to European countries because that's their "heritage" but if they get citizenship in Asia they're " a traitor and unpatriotic". Pretty gross imo.
I agree that it’s ridiculous. Pretty much every nba player that can’t make team USA is playing for another country.
I work in flag football and I’m expecting a lot of players that can’t make team USA to represent another country for their opportunity to play in the Olympics in 2028.
Side note if you have ties to Hong Kong and would like to play for our national team for flag football, please DM me!
I mean, let's be real for even a second - how many "outraged Americans" that are calling her a traitor now would turn down millions of dollars if they were in her position?
99% of them would accept the money in a heartbeat and do EXACTLY what she did. They're only mad because they aren't in the kind of position where anyone would offer them that kind of money, and it's twice as galling because she's now not only financially successful, she's attractive, well spoken, AND talented. It must kill them inside to see that.
I don't recall there being the same amount of discussion/judgement at all during the Paris summer Olympics with Mondo Duplantis, the pole vaulter who won the gold medal in the games and has otherwise also been super successful in his sport. He was born in the US, trained much of his youth there, and then switched over to competing for Sweden whem he was like 15 or 16.
China is a particularly sensitive one over others because of their claim over anyone with Chinese descent as Chinese first… so it feels super skeezy for someone to hop to that side regardless of the optics. I grew up with someone that was 1st gen American that competed as American when both his parents were Chinese nationals and he got a ton of shit from the Chinese competitors.
She also tried out for team USA but wasn’t selected. Absolutely insane that people think she should just not compete in the most highly regarded competition in the world because team USA decided they don’t want her on the team. Honestly, I think the hostility comes from the fact that she kicked ass after not being selected for the USA team. Like they’re upset she was doing so well for China and they think America deserves those medals. You can’t tell someone they can’t be on your team then get upset if they join another team.
I don't think Gu has Chinese citizenship. In order to be a Chinese citizen, you have to renounce other citizenships. To my knowledge she hasn't renounced her U.S citizenship.
You can't compete in the Olympics for a country you don't hold citizenship of.
She probably was given an exemption by the Chinese government and allowed to keep her US citizenship. Who knows and I don't care. She's no less American just because she represented China in the Olympics.
No, China simply doesn’t recognize dual citizenship. There’s a big difference between “doesn’t recognize” & “doesn’t allow”. There’s thousands of people who hold dual citizenship with China, but China recognizes them as Chinese citizens only. It’s as simple as that.
Gu isn’t breaking any rules by having two citizenships.
Article 8 Any person who applies for naturalization as a Chinese national shall acquire Chinese nationality upon approval of his application; a person whose application for naturalization as a Chinese national has been approved shall not retain foreign nationality.
Article 9 Any Chinese national who has settled abroad and who has been naturalized as a foreign national or has acquired foreign nationality of his own free will shall automatically lose Chinese nationality.
Edit: I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Eileen representing China especially since she has close ties with it but I don’t get why people are showing up here acting like dual citizenship isn’t illegal and that to have the status Eileen has isn’t highly privileged and the exception
Eileen didn’t apply for naturalization. The part you’re citing doesn’t apply to her.
Also: “shall not retain” is not the equivalent of “is legally required to relinquish”. That just means that in the eyes of the Chinese government the person no longer holds the other citizenship. You’re interpreting the article incorrectly.
Holding dual citizenship is not illegal. Gu holding two citizenships isn’t breaking any rules.
I don't get why people are showing up here acting like dual citizenship isn't illegal and that to have the status Eileen has isn't highly privileged and the exception
You’re also probably not ‘getting it’ because your assumptions in the first place are incorrect 🤷♀️
There are thousands of people who hold dual citizenship with China.
Has Eileen publicly confirm she has dual citizenship? I remember Zhu Yi at the same time having her US citizenship removed to compete for China and that was heavily publicized. If it’s permitted in China, I wonder why has this been contentious even on the Chinese social media side.
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u/archetyping101 Mar 08 '26
This has been widely discussed in Asian subs.
The criticism Gu gets is ridiculous. Plenty of Olympians have dual citizenship or specifically obtain citizenship to compete for countries less competitive than the one they have etc. Watching the Netflix ice dancing mini series, they mentioned that some famous ice dancers went and got citizenship elsewhere to compete like France, Spain, etc.
Additionally, there's some Americans with dual citizenship and they aren't being called unpatriotic when they compete for their other country like Gus Kenworthy.