China hasn't stopped at halting the broadcast of the Spanish league. The country has gone further still, deciding to erase Kylian Mbappé entirely from the records of the Ballon d'Or and to replace his name with a shocking phrase: "This person does not exist". It marks an unprecedented escalation of the crisis over the mocking meme that ignited the anger of a billion and a half Chinese.
The Kylian Mbappé crisis in China is escalating rapidly, turning from a mere controversy on social media into a full-blown diplomatic and sporting crisis, according to Spain's "Sport". At the centre of it sits the Real Madrid star and his sensational remarks about the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong.
"Chá wú cǐ rén": a phrase that erases a star
"Dongqiudi", one of the most prominent and largest sports websites in China, has taken a striking and unprecedented step in the history of the award. It deleted Mbappé's name permanently from its official ranking for the 2026 Ballon d'Or and replaced it with a harsh Chinese phrase.
The French player finished second in the official ranking behind winner Harry Kane and ahead of Lamine Yamal, who came third. Yet the ranking published on Tuesday in China showed first place under Kane's name and third place under Yamal's name, while in place of second it put the phrase "chá wú cǐ rén", which translates literally to "no such person exists" or "the person does not exist".
Nor did the website stop there. It attached to the post a black-and-white image of the French striker, a powerful symbolic reference, and refused to translate his remarks, considering them offensive to Chinese fans and the general public. In doing so it turned the results of the most important individual award in football into a platform for expressing its political stance.
From CCTV to Dongqiudi: the crisis widens
The move comes days after CCTV, the official Chinese television, halted the broadcast of Spanish league matches entirely, according to local media reports, against the backdrop of the same crisis. The decision inflicted huge commercial losses on La Liga and put Mbappé's marketing future in the Chinese market at stake.
What is the meme that angered China?
The roots of the crisis go back to an interview Mbappé gave on the digital programme "The Bridge", presented by his Real Madrid teammate Aurélien Tchouaméni.
Asked about his favourite memes, Mbappé recalled a composite image in which his face was superimposed onto the face of a Chinese leader he described as a "dictator". He found the image funny, he explained, and used to share it a lot with his friends.
The Frenchman never mentioned Mao Zedong by name, but the Chinese public immediately linked his words to the mocking image showing his face superimposed onto the face of the late leader. A wide section of users considered it a belittlement and a mockery of a central and sacred figure in the country's history. A storm of criticism erupted, and it did not stop until his name was erased from footballing existence in China.