Jin Jing
Encyclopedia
Jin Jing is a Chinese
female Paralympic fencer
. She was a torchbearer carrying the Olympic torch amid political protests during the 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay
in Paris
, France
. According to ABC News
, she fended off protestors who "threw themselves" at her; most were wrestled away by French police but at least one reached her wheelchair and tried to wrench the torch away. Jin has gained national fame in China because of the incident, but was attacked on Chinese internet bulletin boards for her stance in the following call to boycott French retailer Carrefour
that resulted from public anger toward France. In contrast, Western media concentrated on how the incident involving Jin Jing ignited Chinese nationalism and claimed that the incident was exploited for propaganda purposes by the state media.
to Anhui
during the Cultural Revolution
, where he met and married Liu Huayao (Chinese: 刘华瑶). Jin was born in 1981, in Hefei
, Anhui, She has a younger sister, Jin Renyu (Chinese: 金任钰).
Jin had part of her right leg amputated
in 1989 when she was in elementary school after a malignant tumor was found on her ankle and later underwent a year of chemotherapy
. She moved to Shanghai
with her family in 1995 and studied information technology
in a technical secondary school. After graduation, she worked as a telephone operator in a hotel in Shanghai. Jin is currently single.
was elected the host city for 2008 Summer Olympics
, Jin Jing became a member of the Shanghai Wheelchair Fencing
Team. Later on she joined the Chinese National Wheelchair Fencing Team.
Her career as a fencer is summarized in the following table:
On May 6, 2008, Jin Jing was named as the ambassador of a Paralympic cheering group to help publicize Paralympic sports worldwide in the runup to the 2008 Summer Paralympics
in Beijing.
On September 6, she brought the Paralympic torch into the Bird's Nest stadium
during the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games. On this occasion, she "made headlines in the Chinese media", according to the Agence France-Presse
.
In 2007, Jin Jing turned up for a selective trial, titled You Are the Torchbearer, which was organized by China Central Television
, and was chosen to be an Olympic torchbearer. On April 7, 2008, she was the third torchbearer carrying the Olympic Flame
during the relay in Paris, amidst protests and physical attempts to snatch the torch by demonstrators. According to ABC News
, "Protesters denouncing Chinese policy in Tibet threw themselves at Jin. Most were wrestled away by police but at least one reached her wheelchair and tried to wrench the torch away." Jin was quoted by the state-run newspaper China Daily
as saying that she "would die to protect the torch." The International Olympic Committee
president Jacques Rogge
commented on the incident, saying, "What shocked me most is when someone tried to rob (sic?) the torch off a wheelchair athlete, a disabled athlete who was unable to defend the torch. This is unacceptable."
On her arrival back to Beijing
, after the Paris relay, Jin was interviewed by Sohu
. Of her experience of the relay, she said:
Commenting on Tibet itself in interviews, she said she knew little of politics before encountering the demonstrations in Paris, and had never heard of the pro-Tibet independence movement. When asked by the UK's The Daily Telegraph
she also said, "My opinion before was that Tibet was an inseparable part of our country, now I hold this point more firmly than before."
Jin has been celebrated first on internet bulletin boards and soon in Chinese media. She was treated to a hero's welcome upon her return to Beijing
and China's news reports described her as the "Smiling Angel in Wheelchair" and the "Most Beautiful Torchbearer". According to Canada's The Globe and Mail
, initially the state media of China censored all reports on the torch protests and the incident involving Jin Jing, but it soon reported on the protest and portrayed China as the victim, thus appealing to patriotic sentiments. The UK's The Times
wrote that Chinese media coverage of the Paris leg of the relay was "reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution
when propaganda organs were able to whip up the public into a frenzy of rage over an issue of their choice." The Associated Press wrote that Jin is "now known as a defender of China's dignity" and joins "a list of heroes promoted by the communist government's propaganda authorities", while The Sydney Morning Herald
called her a "new heroine in China" by whom Beijing "is trying to claw back one or two propaganda points from the torch's recent rocky progress." The French magazine Marianne
devoted a full page to her in its April 26 edition, and commented that the Chinese flame attendants were "strangely" absent when Jin carried the torch, leaving it up to the French police alone to guard Jin and her companions. But according to the interview Jin gave to Sohu on April 9, she was waiting to accept the flame as the third torchbearer, and security was "relatively light" around her, when the protestors "began lunging" at her. Marianne wrote that Jin's story had become a "legend skillfully propagated" by the Chinese media: "Images of Jin Jing holding the torch against her heart, her eyes closed in her lovely face, are being shown over and over on CCTV
and are inflaming the Chinese Internet," making Jin famous for "hundreds of millions of Chinese viewers and netizens." The French newspaper Le Figaro
published an analysis of what it referred to as "the Jin Jing phenomenon": "The media have been drumming into people's heads the story of this young woman who became, in the space of an incident in Paris, the symbol of Chinese pride in the face of Western hostility. The actions of the media bore their fruit, and the 'angel in a wheelchair' has generated unprecedented enthusiasm in China and among Chinese communities all over the world."
The event involving Jin Jing in Paris sparked outrage around China, and Chinese citizens started to urge on the internet for a boycott of French goods and businesses, and touted to "hunt down" the protester who accosted Jin and "teach him a lesson." On April 21, two weeks after the incident, Jin received a personal letter from French president Nicolas Sarkozy
, delivered by Senate President Christian Poncelet
. In the letter Sarkozy referred to the attack as "intolerable", and said he "condemns it with the utmost force." Xinhua reported that Jin was "very glad to be invited by President Sarkozy to France" and that she "hope[d] to contribute her own efforts to cementing the Sino-France friendship". However, Jin also expressed her disappointment to the press later that Sarkozy "expressed regret, shock and condemnation but no apology."
On September 18, 2008, Jin was received by President Sarkozy at the Palais de l'Elysée
. Sarkozy publicly stated that he was "very happy to greet [her]", and praised her "exemplary courage". Reuters
, describing Jin as a "nationalist icon", reported that the incident in Paris had "caused a diplomatic rift between China and France that Sarkozy has been at pains to mend ever since", and that his hosting of Jin at the Elysée palace was a means of "heal[ing] [the] rift".
to show anger towards France and the experience Jin Jing had in Paris, Jin said she does not want people to boycott Carrefour
since most of its employees are Chinese and they will be first affected. She also spoke in support of "Chinese people's friendship with the French", wished the best for French athletes at the Beijing Olympics, and added: "We Chinese people will certainly welcome French people and athletes to China with a tolerant, friendly and passionate attitude." She had received strong personal attacks on Chinese bulletin boards,
though her popularity is still considered very high. So far, she is still called "The Angel in Wheelchair".
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
female Paralympic fencer
Fencing
Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...
. She was a torchbearer carrying the Olympic torch amid political protests during the 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay
2008 Summer Olympics torch relay
The 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay was run from March 24 until August 8, 2008, prior to the 2008 Summer Olympics, with the theme of "one world, one dream". Plans for the relay were announced on April 26, 2007, in Beijing, China...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. According to ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
, she fended off protestors who "threw themselves" at her; most were wrestled away by French police but at least one reached her wheelchair and tried to wrench the torch away. Jin has gained national fame in China because of the incident, but was attacked on Chinese internet bulletin boards for her stance in the following call to boycott French retailer Carrefour
Carrefour
Carrefour S.A. is an international hypermarket chain headquartered in Levallois-Perret, France. It is one of the largest hypermarket chains in the world...
that resulted from public anger toward France. In contrast, Western media concentrated on how the incident involving Jin Jing ignited Chinese nationalism and claimed that the incident was exploited for propaganda purposes by the state media.
Family and personal life
Jin Jing's parents are wage earners. Her father, Jin Jiansheng (Chinese: 金建生), is a rusticated youth who moved from ShanghaiShanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
to Anhui
Anhui
Anhui is a province in the People's Republic of China. Located in eastern China across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huai River, it borders Jiangsu to the east, Zhejiang to the southeast, Jiangxi to the south, Hubei to the southwest, Henan to the northwest, and Shandong for a tiny...
during the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
, where he met and married Liu Huayao (Chinese: 刘华瑶). Jin was born in 1981, in Hefei
Hefei
Hefei is the capital and largest city of Anhui Province in Eastern China. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, and cultural centre of Anhui...
, Anhui, She has a younger sister, Jin Renyu (Chinese: 金任钰).
Jin had part of her right leg amputated
Amputation
Amputation is the removal of a body extremity by trauma, prolonged constriction, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on individuals as a preventative surgery for...
in 1989 when she was in elementary school after a malignant tumor was found on her ankle and later underwent a year of chemotherapy
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....
. She moved to Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
with her family in 1995 and studied information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
in a technical secondary school. After graduation, she worked as a telephone operator in a hotel in Shanghai. Jin is currently single.
Career
On July 13, 2001, the day when BeijingBeijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
was elected the host city for 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
, Jin Jing became a member of the Shanghai Wheelchair Fencing
Wheelchair fencing
Wheelchair fencing is a version of Fencing for athletes with a disability. Wheelchair fencing is governed by the International Wheelchair Fencing that is a federation of the International Paralympic Committee, and is one of the sports in the Summer Paralympic Games.-Classification:*class A *class B...
Team. Later on she joined the Chinese National Wheelchair Fencing Team.
Her career as a fencer is summarized in the following table:
| Year | Tournament | Venue | Event | Result | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Wheelchair Fencing World Cup | Warsaw Warsaw Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most... , Poland Poland Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north... |
Women's Wheelchair Fencing Épée | 8 th | |
| 2002 | FESPIC Games FESPIC Games The FESPIC Games or the Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled, was the biggest multi-sports games in the Asia and South Pacific region.... |
Busan Busan Busan , formerly spelled Pusan is South Korea's second largest metropolis after Seoul, with a population of around 3.6 million. The Metropolitan area population is 4,399,515 as of 2010. It is the largest port city in South Korea and the fifth largest port in the world... , South Korea South Korea The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south... |
Women's Wheelchair Fencing Épée | silver | |
| Women's Wheelchair Fencing Foil Foil (fencing) A foil is a type of weapon used in fencing. It is the most common weapon in terms of usage in competition, and is usually the choice for elementary classes for fencing in general.- Components:... (Team) |
bronze | ||||
| 2003 | 6th National Paralympic Games of the P.R. China | Nanjing Nanjing ' is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions... , China China Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture... |
Women's Wheelchair Fencing Épée | bronze | |
| Women's Wheelchair Fencing Foil (Team) | silver | ||||
| 2003 | World Wheelchair Games World Wheelchair Games The IWAS World Games, formerly known as the World Wheelchair and Amputee Games, the Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Games, the Stoke Mandeville Games, and the World Wheelchair Games , are a multi-sport competition for athletes with a disability.The Games were originally held in 1948 by Sir Ludwig... |
Christchurch Christchurch Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of... , New Zealand New Zealand New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga... |
Women's Wheelchair Fencing Épée | bronze | |
| 2005 | National Table Tennis and Fencing Games | Nanjing, China | Women's Wheelchair Fencing Foil | bronze | |
| 2005 | Wheelchair Fencing World Cup | Hong Kong Hong Kong Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour... |
Women's Wheelchair Fencing Épée | 5 th | |
| Women's Wheelchair Fencing Foil | 5 th |
On May 6, 2008, Jin Jing was named as the ambassador of a Paralympic cheering group to help publicize Paralympic sports worldwide in the runup to the 2008 Summer Paralympics
2008 Summer Paralympics
The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games, the thirteenth Paralympics, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to September 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao....
in Beijing.
On September 6, she brought the Paralympic torch into the Bird's Nest stadium
Beijing National Stadium
Beijing National Stadium, also known officially as the National Stadium, or colloquially as the Bird's Nest , is a stadium in Beijing, China. The stadium was designed for use throughout the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.-History:...
during the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games. On this occasion, she "made headlines in the Chinese media", according to the Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse is a French news agency, the oldest one in the world, and one of the three largest with Associated Press and Reuters. It is also the largest French news agency. Currently, its CEO is Emmanuel Hoog and its news director Philippe Massonnet...
.
2008 Summer Olympics torch relay
China Central Television
China Central Television or Chinese Central Television, commonly abbreviated as CCTV, is the major state television broadcaster in mainland China. CCTV has a network of 19 channels broadcasting different programmes and is accessible to more than one billion viewers...
, and was chosen to be an Olympic torchbearer. On April 7, 2008, she was the third torchbearer carrying the Olympic Flame
Olympic Flame
The Olympic Flame or Olympic Torch is a symbol of the Olympic Games. Commemorating the theft of fire from the Greek god Zeus by Prometheus, its origins lie in ancient Greece, where a fire was kept burning throughout the celebration of the ancient Olympics. The fire was reintroduced at the 1928...
during the relay in Paris, amidst protests and physical attempts to snatch the torch by demonstrators. According to ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
, "Protesters denouncing Chinese policy in Tibet threw themselves at Jin. Most were wrestled away by police but at least one reached her wheelchair and tried to wrench the torch away." Jin was quoted by the state-run newspaper China Daily
China Daily
The China Daily is an English language daily newspaper published in the People's Republic of China.- Overview :China Daily was established in June 1981 and has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in the country...
as saying that she "would die to protect the torch." The International Olympic Committee
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
president Jacques Rogge
Jacques Rogge
Jacques Rogge, Count Rogge , is a Belgian sports bureaucrat. He is the eighth and current President of the International Olympic Committee .-Life and career:...
commented on the incident, saying, "What shocked me most is when someone tried to rob (sic?) the torch off a wheelchair athlete, a disabled athlete who was unable to defend the torch. This is unacceptable."
On her arrival back to Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, after the Paris relay, Jin was interviewed by Sohu
Sohu
Sohu.com, Inc. is a search engine company headquartered in the Sohu.com Internet Plaza in Haidian District, Beijing, People’s Republic of China. This company and its subsidiaries offer advertising, a search engine, on-line multiplayer gaming and other services. For the fiscal year ended December...
. Of her experience of the relay, she said:
Commenting on Tibet itself in interviews, she said she knew little of politics before encountering the demonstrations in Paris, and had never heard of the pro-Tibet independence movement. When asked by the UK's The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
she also said, "My opinion before was that Tibet was an inseparable part of our country, now I hold this point more firmly than before."
Jin has been celebrated first on internet bulletin boards and soon in Chinese media. She was treated to a hero's welcome upon her return to Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
and China's news reports described her as the "Smiling Angel in Wheelchair" and the "Most Beautiful Torchbearer". According to Canada's The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
, initially the state media of China censored all reports on the torch protests and the incident involving Jin Jing, but it soon reported on the protest and portrayed China as the victim, thus appealing to patriotic sentiments. The UK's The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
wrote that Chinese media coverage of the Paris leg of the relay was "reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
when propaganda organs were able to whip up the public into a frenzy of rage over an issue of their choice." The Associated Press wrote that Jin is "now known as a defender of China's dignity" and joins "a list of heroes promoted by the communist government's propaganda authorities", while The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia. The newspaper is published six days a week. The newspaper's Sunday counterpart, The...
called her a "new heroine in China" by whom Beijing "is trying to claw back one or two propaganda points from the torch's recent rocky progress." The French magazine Marianne
Marianne (magazine)
Marianne is a weekly Paris-based French news magazine created in 1997 by Jean-François Kahn with Maurice Szafran as editorialist. The main shareholder of the company is Robert Assaraf with 49.4% of the shares .-Overview:...
devoted a full page to her in its April 26 edition, and commented that the Chinese flame attendants were "strangely" absent when Jin carried the torch, leaving it up to the French police alone to guard Jin and her companions. But according to the interview Jin gave to Sohu on April 9, she was waiting to accept the flame as the third torchbearer, and security was "relatively light" around her, when the protestors "began lunging" at her. Marianne wrote that Jin's story had become a "legend skillfully propagated" by the Chinese media: "Images of Jin Jing holding the torch against her heart, her eyes closed in her lovely face, are being shown over and over on CCTV
China Central Television
China Central Television or Chinese Central Television, commonly abbreviated as CCTV, is the major state television broadcaster in mainland China. CCTV has a network of 19 channels broadcasting different programmes and is accessible to more than one billion viewers...
and are inflaming the Chinese Internet," making Jin famous for "hundreds of millions of Chinese viewers and netizens." The French newspaper Le Figaro
Le Figaro
Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...
published an analysis of what it referred to as "the Jin Jing phenomenon": "The media have been drumming into people's heads the story of this young woman who became, in the space of an incident in Paris, the symbol of Chinese pride in the face of Western hostility. The actions of the media bore their fruit, and the 'angel in a wheelchair' has generated unprecedented enthusiasm in China and among Chinese communities all over the world."
The event involving Jin Jing in Paris sparked outrage around China, and Chinese citizens started to urge on the internet for a boycott of French goods and businesses, and touted to "hunt down" the protester who accosted Jin and "teach him a lesson." On April 21, two weeks after the incident, Jin received a personal letter from French president Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
, delivered by Senate President Christian Poncelet
Christian Poncelet
Christian Poncelet is a conservative French politician. A member of President Nicolas Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement , he was President of the Senate from 1998 to 2008...
. In the letter Sarkozy referred to the attack as "intolerable", and said he "condemns it with the utmost force." Xinhua reported that Jin was "very glad to be invited by President Sarkozy to France" and that she "hope[d] to contribute her own efforts to cementing the Sino-France friendship". However, Jin also expressed her disappointment to the press later that Sarkozy "expressed regret, shock and condemnation but no apology."
On September 18, 2008, Jin was received by President Sarkozy at the Palais de l'Elysée
Élysée Palace
The Élysée Palace is the official residence of the President of the French Republic, containing his office, and is where the Council of Ministers meets. It is located near the Champs-Élysées in Paris....
. Sarkozy publicly stated that he was "very happy to greet [her]", and praised her "exemplary courage". Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
, describing Jin as a "nationalist icon", reported that the incident in Paris had "caused a diplomatic rift between China and France that Sarkozy has been at pains to mend ever since", and that his hosting of Jin at the Elysée palace was a means of "heal[ing] [the] rift".
Boycott of Carrefour
In April 2008, amidst calls in China to boycott French retailer CarrefourCarrefour
Carrefour S.A. is an international hypermarket chain headquartered in Levallois-Perret, France. It is one of the largest hypermarket chains in the world...
to show anger towards France and the experience Jin Jing had in Paris, Jin said she does not want people to boycott Carrefour
Carrefour
Carrefour S.A. is an international hypermarket chain headquartered in Levallois-Perret, France. It is one of the largest hypermarket chains in the world...
since most of its employees are Chinese and they will be first affected. She also spoke in support of "Chinese people's friendship with the French", wished the best for French athletes at the Beijing Olympics, and added: "We Chinese people will certainly welcome French people and athletes to China with a tolerant, friendly and passionate attitude." She had received strong personal attacks on Chinese bulletin boards,
though her popularity is still considered very high. So far, she is still called "The Angel in Wheelchair".
External links
- Video of the Jin Jing incident in Paris
- Jin Jing's blog: Start from the spirit (in Chinese)
- Jin Jing's album
- Louisa Lim Protests Boost Chinese Torchbearers' Resolve National Public Radio, April 10, 2008