Chinese man who led wedding party dressed as Japanese solider ‘had been filming patriotic video and didn’t have time to change’
Man apologises for ‘misunderstanding’ after his stunt triggers nationalist backlash
A man in northern China has triggered a nationalist backlash after he was pictured leading a wedding motorcade dressed as a second world war Japanese solider – just weeks after a law that would criminalise such actions came into effect.
The man, identified as Liu Bin, has since apologised for his actions and insisted in a videoed apology that he and his friends had been filming a patriotic anti-Japanese series of films to be shared online and did not have time to change before joining the wedding party.
The footage circulated on social media shows the 36-year-old dressed in military fatigues and carrying a rifle, giving the thumbs-up sign as he rides in the front of a fleet of wedding motorcycles in the coastal megacity of Tianjin.
“I was in the military over 10 years ago, and I was also a patriotic youth, so today’s incident was a misunderstanding,” he said in the video apology, published by online news site KNews. “I will completely avoid wearing this type of outfit in public settings in the future.”
Liu also denied accusations that he was a “jingri”, a term for Chinese individuals who feel spiritually Japanese.