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Viola Zhou

China’s national pole dance team have pulled out of an international contest in Italy after the organiser failed to display a Chinese flag at the venue, mainland media reports.
The Chinese pole dancers found their national flag was missing from a row of flags standing outside the venue after they arrived in Florence on Friday for the World Pole Sport Championships, according to the news portal NetEase.
The group immediately protested to the organising committee and put up their own flag alongside the others, the report said.

An official at the committee said that a flag pole was broken and promised to have it fixed during semi-finals.
Seeing no Chinese flag after the semi-finals on Saturday, five dancers who qualified for finals decided to boycott the rest of the competition.
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One of them was a 12-year-old girl from the far western region of Xinjiang who was competing in the junior group.
“At any competition, the national flag is a very serious matter,” a male dancer, Ke Hong, was quoted as saying.
“We were furious that Chinese flag was not displayed this time.”
The group said they were still waiting for an explanation from the organisers.
The Chinese government stresses the importance of the national flag as a symbol of national pride in its patriotic education.

Mistreatment of the Chinese flag by foreigners is often interpreted as a loss of dignity.
The use of a wrong version of Chinese flag at the Rio Olympics this summer triggered outrage on Chinese social media.
Pole dancing middle-aged woman puts on show on public bus in China
The boycott of the pole dance contest again led to an outpouring of anger and patriotism online.
Under a Weibo post by CCTV-5, the sports channel of China’s state broadcaster, most comments praised the dancers for upholding Chinese pride.
“We can give the championship away, but we cannot do without the national flag,” said one of the comments that got the most likes.




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China’s pole-dancing team pulls out of global championship after organisers fail to display flag

Members of the Chinese pole dancing team who pulled out of an international competition in Florence, Italy, when organisers failed to display the Chinese flag among others at the event. Handout photo

=== NO ARCHIVE IMAGE === ATN. POLEDANCE14. UNDATED HANDOUT

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China

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Come semi-finals and still no flag, remaining members in the competition decide national pride matters more than trophies


China’s pole-dancing team pulls out of global championship after organisers fail to display flag

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Come semi-finals and still no flag, remaining members in the competition decide national pride matters more than trophies

Come semi-finals and still no flag, remaining members in the competition decide national pride matters more than trophies