the pettiest fight you'll see on the internet

all day.

And that's saying something.

Hi, welcome to China Uncensored,

I'm your host Chris Chappell.

Meet Yang Shuping.

She was this year's student commencement speaker

at the University of Maryland.

And it's no wonder why.

When she came to the United States

five years ago,

she didn't speak a word of English.

She just graduated with a double major

in psychology and theater,

with a minor in German.

And to top it off,

she now speaks fluent English.

Now you would think,

this would be a proud moment

for Chinese international students.

One of their own,

singled out for achievement

at an American University.

Except, when she had the spotlight,

she said some things about the differences

between China and the United States

that were a little controversial.

It involved a student production

of a play about the beating

of Rodney King

and the LA riots of 1992.

The student actors were openly talking

about racism, sexism, and politics.

I was shocked.

I never thought such topics

could be discussed openly.

I have always had a burning desire

to tell these kinds of stories,

but I was convinced that only authorities

owned the narrative.

Only authorities could define the Truth.

You know, I applaud Ms. Yang

for tackling some big topics in her speech.

Of course, it's not quite as good

as my own commencement speech.

Which was about how as we go on,

we remember all the times we had together,

and about the importance of wearing sunscreen,

and also staying hungry and foolish.

It was a pretty great speech.

But back to Ms. Yang's speech.

Here was her key point:

Freedom is oxygen. Freedom is passion.

And then Chinese internet users

around the world exploded.

And believe me,

those were the more polite comments.

THEY WERE HARD TO FIND!

The speech also went viral on Weibo,

the Chinese version of Twitter.

The common theme was that she

shouldnt come back to China.

State-run media had a field day,

with article after article accusing her

of belittling and degrading China...

...and even worse,

convicted her of the worst crime imaginable:

being deemed unpatriotic

by cyber public opinion.

Wow. Unpatriotic?

That was way harsh,

cyber public opinion.

This is what China's Foreign Ministry spokesman

Lu Kang had to say.

Finish her!

Sorry, wrong clip.

This is what Lu Kang actually said.

As long as in the end

they still ardently love their motherland,

and are willing to make contributions for her,

I believe that the Chinese government

will encourage, support and welcome it."

You see, as long as you wholeheartedly love

the Chinese Communist Party,

and do anything for it,

the Communist party will encourage

and welcome it.

I think that was what he was saying?

People always ask me

why did you come to the University of Maryland?

I always answer:

fresh air.

The air was so sweet and fresh

and utterly luxurious.

I was surprised by this.

I grew up in a city in China

where I had to wear a face mask

every time I went outside,

otherwise I might get sick.

However, the moment I inhaled and exhaled

outside the airport,

I felt free.

What happened?

Is attacking someone for a speech

on the other side of the world

somehow supposed to convince people

that China doesn't have a problem

with freedom of speech?

For more on this,

I'm joined by China Uncensored's

resident Chinese person,

Shelley Zhang.

Shelley?

Hi, Chris.

Now Shelley, I know that talking about

freedom of speech in China can be a big deal.

But Yang Shuping was speaking in America.

Why are people so upset?

They weren't complaining about what she said

about freedom of speech.

They weren't?

They didn't get mad because she said

democracy and freedom are the fresh air

worth fighting for?

No, they were mad because she mentioned

a different kind of fresh air.

Hold on.

Chinese netizens are upset

that she complained about air pollution

in China?

Yep.

Chinese people aren't seriously denying

there's a pollution problem, right?

Well, let's let state-run CGTN America

explain it.

Some bashed her for degrading China,

while others accused her of telling outright lies

about her hometown Kunming,

a city in China's southwest Yunnan province

known for its beautiful scenery

and good air.

Wow, Chinese state-run television's

use of promotional video

really gets across how beautiful Kunming is.

So the argument is,

yeah, well...pollution isn't really

that bad in that one city.

And I guess that if she's lying

about the air quality in Kunming,

that proves she's a lying liar

who lies about China in general.

And to prove how out of touch Shuping is,

the local Chinese Students and Scholars Association

got together a group to talk

about how much they love China.

What did they come up with?

This.

We are students from University of Maryland.

We are proud of China.

Nothing says freedom of thought

like a group of people reciting

a prepared speech that someone else wrote.

Well, then there was a video

of individual testimonials

from Chinese students.

Although we know that the US

is a very free speaking country,

80% of what Shuping Yang said today

were deceptions and lies.

And then it goes into a montage

of Chinese students talking about

how nice their own hometowns are

and that they never had to wear facemasks there.

Well, that's...a good Chinese tourism video,

but it doesn't prove that Yang Shuping was lying

about wearing a facemask.

What if she has asthma?

Or overprotective parents.

And interesting note,

although Kunming is today considered

one of the best air quality cities in China,

five years ago,

when Shuping left,

it did not meet China's

national air quality standards.

But to do an in-depth investigation

into whether Kunming has great air,

state-run Xinhua News did

an hour-long livestream on Twitter

where they repeatedly stopped people

on the street to ask if they

ever wore facemasks.

That's the hard-hitting journalism

I expect from Xinhua.

But this whole things seems like

kind of an overreaction.

Well Chris, I do have to say that I understand where the Chinese students are coming from.

Really?

Sure. I came from China as a kid. I was the only Chinese kid in my class. I loved Chinese

culture. I wanted Chinese sports teams to win. I was proud of being Chinese. It was

either that or just be hurt everytime kids made ching chong noises at me.

So you're saying that the Chinese students were justified.

No, I'm saying I understand why they feel hurt

and why they want their Chinese identity

to be respected.

But then they took that

and went so far into left field

they can't even see the ballpark anymore.

There's an obsession with national pride

that's frankly a little unhealthy.

Popular phrases like

"You're nothing without your motherland."

So people are mad at her because

she was being ungrateful

to her motherland?

Well, making the motherland look bad.

But really, Shuping is not the one

making China look bad right now.

The extreme reactions from Chinese people

are keeping this story in the headlines,

and it's making us look weird.

I mean, Chinese netizens

publicly bullied this girl into shutting down

all of her social media accounts

and abjectly apologizing for using

an air quality metaphor

to talk about her love of individual freedoms.

Should we be proud of this?

Is the motherland triumphant,

now that this one voice

has been squashed?

This type of nationalistic anger

that won't be satisfied until someone

is made an example of

is an unfortunate legacy

of the Chinese Communist Party.

But here's what Shuping really did wrong.

And some of the criticisms of her

even say this bluntly.

She can feel the way she wants to

about freedom and democracy

and how great it is to be able to express

individual viewpoints.

Or even how crappy the air is in Kunming.

She just isn't supposed say it out loud.

Publicly.

So your opinion is fine

as long as you don't express it.

Wait, aren't you concerned about

getting attacked for expressing that publicly?

Chris, I fully expect the flamewar

in the comments section

to burn brighter than the sun.

Well, if there's one piece of advice

I could give you, Shelley,

it would be:

Wear sunscreen.

So what do you think about

what Shuping Yang said

and the reaction?

Leave your comments below.

Once again,

I'm your host, Chris Chappell.

See you next time.