Still does not change the fact that "Chinese" is never about race or ethnicity, it is a concept of cultural embracement and self-identity. There is really nothing much to argue beyond this fundamental fact unless if you are one of those sinophobic people who wants to balkanize China by going down the route of falsely defining what "Chinese" really means. Or even worse, being one of those clowns who falsely claim that "Chinese" and "Han" somehow means the same thing which is a complete nonsense.
Also, this is not "gatekeeping" at all, this definition of "Chinese" is very very open-minded, which is consistent with the attitude of countless previous Chinese dynasties when embracing this subject. Your comments on hastily deciding that Eileen Gu is definitively NOT Chinese makes you ironically being the only "gatekeeper" over here.
The point of my post was to show that historically, "Chinese identity" (which is cultural, political,
and ethnic even in a historical sense
) was something actively manipulated by states and persons to gain advantage. This is also happening today, and here, in the case of Eileen Gu, whose chimeric approach to identity ("I am American while in America, and Chinese while in China" - her words, not mine) is a deliberate construct intended to support her family's business and media interests.
By straddling these two worlds, she is able to simultaneously present herself as a Chinese heroine (even though she spends most of her time in the US and isn't a product of the Chinese sports system at all),
while claiming American benefits like her education, residency, winter sports training, access to US facilities, elite US sports circles, and American fans. She never emphasizes she's "Chinese" on Instagram, but in the past tried to speak for "Asians in the US" even though she is white passing and did not experience any discrimination as an Asian (if anything, she was targeted as a "race traitor" by whites). That is her privilege as a member of the global elite caught in the intersection of US-China geopolitics.
It maybe impossible for Chinese in China to understand the issues, but here, on an English language board full of emigrants, I expected better discussion. When Eileen claims she's Chinese, the sort of identity she's claiming is different than the actual experience of the vast majority of Chinese around the world. China may choose to recognize her as Chinese any way (even though she still hasn't renounced her American citizenship), but that should be understood as a highly politicized, special case scenario, not a general definition of how China operates (China still doesn't recognize dual citizenship) or how Chinese are defined (which is, without question, racialized
today).
