Chinese anger against Kylian Mbappé is no longer confined to official decisions suspending broadcasts and cutting sponsorship deals. It has spilled onto the streets and turned into real flames.
As Beijing reviewed the French star's apology issued in three languages, Chinese fans vented their fury in another way: stamping on his pictures and burning his shirts in front of the cameras. The message was clear. No apology will heal the wound inflicted on their national symbol.
The crisis between Mbappé and the Chinese public is escalating. It has moved beyond the corridors of diplomacy and the meeting halls to reach a sweeping wave of popular anger, documented by video clips that spread like wildfire on social media.
Days earlier, the Real Madrid player had commented on a satirical image combining his face with that of the former Chinese leader Mao Zedong, calling it one of his favourite pictures. The government responded by suspending the broadcast of Real Madrid matches on the official CCTV channel. The public did not stop there.
Widely circulated clips show fans expressing their anger in stark, symbolic fashion. One stamped his feet on posters bearing Mbappé's image before turning to the camera with furious words: "I feel extreme anger at what I heard from Mbappé's comments about China. I am imposing a severe boycott on him and I will never forgive him."
The scene did not stop there. The fan took out a lighter and set fire to a shirt bearing Mbappé's name. Strikingly, it was the France national team shirt that burned, not the Real Madrid one, a sign that the anger is aimed at the man himself and not only at his club.
These scenes confirm the crisis runs deeper than a commercial or sporting dispute. For this Asian country, Mao Zedong, founder of the People's Republic of China, is a national symbol and a red line that cannot be crossed. That explains the scale of a reaction that the apologies of the player, his club and the Spanish league association have so far failed to calm.