Chinese netizens scold Bobby Au-yeung for celebrating Christmas because the holiday is 'only for foreigners'

Who knew donning a Santa hat and having your own Christmas tree would incite backlash online? Hong Kong actor Bobby Au-yeung certainly didn't.

Last Friday (Dec 24), the 61-year old uploaded two videos onto Douyin, TikTok's sister app in China, in celebration of Christmas.

The first video was of him dressed up in festive attire while wishing fellow netizens a very merry holiday. The second clip had Bobby holding a present while he enthusiastically sang and danced to Christmas music.

Unexpectedly, this ruffled some feathers and his comments section was soon filled with Chinese netizens unhappy that he had attempted to partake in a 'Western' holiday.

It seems like Chinese history and pop culture has influenced their views on who should and shouldn't celebrate Christmas.

The recently released and massively popular Chinese film The Battle at Lake Changjin was taken as enough reasoning to 'boycott' Christmas. The movie depicted a colossal battle between American and Chinese troops during the Korean War which took place in November and December 1950.

Bobby's positivity towards the festive season in the two videos was seen as him being unpatriotic. 

One netizen wrote: "Please delete this video. We only celebrate our own spring festival. Please go watch The Battle at Lake Changjin."

Another said: "Brother, I'm not criticising you but we are Chinese."

For a number of Chinese netizens, Christmas is 'only for foreigners' so December 25 should be treated as a regular day on the calendar year.

Some of Bobby's followers defended him and insisted that he did nothing wrong and was merely sharing a happy moment with his fans.

Bobby was cognizant of the criticism he was under and responded to a few Douyin users with nothing more than a folded hands emoji.

He also went on Weibo and Douyin to explain his feelings about the negativity he's received. 

He wrote: “Thank you to all the fans for your support and understanding. I just have one more thing to say: my conscience is clear.”

It seems like Bobby has chosen to ignore the online hate and will continue to be celebrating holidays and festivals as he wishes.

ALSO READ: Bobby Au-yeung told by doctors he died after alcohol accident

amierul@asiaone.com