China's love of Japan skater Hanyu keeps transcending politics

[BEIJING] In a sign of just how deep China's affection for Japanese star figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu runs, even its normally acerbic diplomats are taking a break from sniping at geopolitical rivals to fete the Olympics legend.

The 27-year-old, two-time Olympic gold medallist has achieved idol-like status in China in recent years, despite fraying relations between Asia's two biggest economies and historical foes.

Days before Hanyu's arrival in Beijing, for example, an airport worker was pictured with his name and a heart scrawled across her hazmat suit, while volunteers at the Olympics enthusiastically snapped photos of him during competition.

On social media, Chinese fans lovingly refer to Hanyu as "Youzi," which refers to the citrus fruit pomelo.

More notable is the support that Hanyu has received even from some of China's "Wolf Warriors," the nickname for Chinese diplomats who have adopted increasingly pugilistic postures on social media against foreign critics.

On Tuesday (Feb 8), the Chinese embassy in Japan said in a tweet ahead of Hanyu's competition that it was looking forward to watching the king of figure skating, with a photo where Hanyu is flanked by Japanese skater Shoma Uno and China's Jin Boyang.

In October, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying tweeted a message in Japanese to Hanyu fans that they could pass on the responsibility of cheering him on to China's citizens during the Olympics.

The friendly gestures by China's diplomats are particularly striking as the country has launched attacks on countries like the US ahead of the Olympics, amid a Washington-led diplomatic boycott of the games.

Japan did not send government representatives, but did not call it a boycott.

Though Hanyu underperformed on Tuesday, he made it through to Thursday's final and is aiming to make history by winning three consecutive golds in men's figure skating and completing a quadruple axel.

His disappointing performance also failed to dent enthusiasm among Chinese fans, with state broadcaster CCTV describing him during its broadcast as "face like jade, posture like pine, body as light as a swan, elegant as a dancing dragon." BLOOMBERG