The Episode Of “Running Man” That Had Chinese Netizens Pledging To “Never Watch It Again”
On Weibo, China’s largest social media website, there was an uproar regarding the Korean variety program Running Man. The uproar is due to a board game that was shown as a part of a game.
On episode 532 of Running Man, there was a segment that showed the members playing some type of board game. While the members of the show brought laughter, as they usually do, this particular portion of the show greatly upset Chinese viewers. The board game in question is called Blue Marble and it is a game similar to Monopoly where you invest in assets such as buildings and homes in major cities all over the world.
If you look closely at the board game set up, viewers will notice that each board game tile was represented by a country and their capital. There were numerous different countries highlighted on the board game such as Singapore, the Philippines, China, and Taiwan. What upset Chinese viewers, however, was the fact that the Running Man producers separated Taiwan and China— treating them as two different entities.
There has been a continuous ongoing dispute between the two countries. China believes that Taiwan is a part of China whereas Taiwan believes that they are a separate country. This conflict has been ongoing as the two nations continue to be divided on their stances. With that said, seeing Taiwan as a separate country with its separate capital did a number on Chinese netizens as they were seen leaving comments such as, “I’m never watching it again” or “I’m sick of the show now”.
After this episode was aired, Running Man started to rank highly on Chinese media sites, where many Chinese netizens are starting to ask for a boycott of the show. This would greatly damage the show’s viewership as the variety program has seen huge popularity in China in the past years.
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