Taiwanese fans similarly incensed by comments made by artistes from the mainland

The Shanghiist
Date: November 19, 2018
By: Kenneth Tan

It was meant to bring people together in celebration of the Chinese-language film industry but online fury boiled over on both sides of the straits after political comments stole the show at the 55th Golden Horse Awards held on Saturday in Taipei.

Struggling to hold back tears in her acceptance speech after winning the year’s Best Documentary award, filmmaker Fu Yue touched off a firestorm when she declared, “I hope one day my country will be treated as an independent entity. This is my greatest hope as a Taiwanese.”

Fu’s film,Our Youth in Taiwan, documents the experiences of three young people, including herself, in the Sunflower Movement, a student-led movement in 2014 which saw protestors occupy the legislature.

The blowback was immediate. Livestreams of the awards ceremony on the Chinese mainland were immediately interrupted as angry netizens scaled the Great Firewall to leave comments on the director’s Facebook page by the thousands, denouncing her as a “separatist” and “traitor”.    [FULL  STORY]