Infernal blunder: Hong Kong movie stars Andy Lau and Chow Yun-fat wrongly listed as ‘Xinjiang cops’ who helped ‘round up thousands’ by US activist group
- Activist list brands local superstars Andy Lau and Chow Yun-fat as Xinjiang province police officers responsible for wrongful incarcerations
- Online observers across China mock the mistake by using famous lines and themes from movies
An activist group has become a laughing stock in China for listing famous Hong Kong film stars Andy Lau Tak-wah and Chow Yun-fat as police officers responsible for rounding up “thousands of documented victims” in Xinjiang province in northwestern China.
The list was published by Xinjiang Victims Database on its Twitter account on January 6.
Together with a link to a list of “over 2,000 Urumqi police officers”, the post featured a gallery of the officers’ profile photos – including those of the two superstars.
As the mistake was spotted and spread on Twitter and later Chinese social media, it attracted a host of funny comments and memes from people familiar with the two actors, each of whom has played a number of roles as Hong Kong police officers in their careers.
“Sorry, I’m a cop,” one online observer joked, referencing a famous line said to Lau by fellow actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai in the classic Hong Kong thriller, Infernal Affairs, which starred both men.