New Chinese flags sent to Rio to replace flawed ones

Flawed Chinese flags that were hoisted at the Olymipics in Rio de Janeiro are being replaced following protests by Chinese netizens, authorities have said. Workers at a company based about 75 kilometers outside Sao Paulo have been toiling for 30 hours straight, rustling up Chinese national flags with the correct design, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

The replacement flags have been loaded onto trucks and will be delivered to every Olympic venue in Rio de Janeiro, a report in the state-run Global Times said.

“We are looking forward to seeing the Five-Starred Red Flag raised in Olympic venues and we hope Chinese athletes will obtain good results constantly,” Song Yang, Chinese consulate-general to Brazil has been quoted by the official media.

Chinese netizens pointed out that incorrect Chinese flags were being raised at Olympic award ceremonies over the weekend. The four smaller stars on the flags were parallel to each other, instead of pointing toward the centre of the larger star.

The Chinese team protested to the Rio Olympic Committee during an award ceremony on Saturday, followed by Chinese Ambassador to Brazil Li Jinzhang who immediately asked Song to lodge solemn representations to the Brazil side.

Rio Games organisers “deeply apologised” for raising the “flawed” flags. Several media reports previously claimed that the flawed flags were made by the Zhejiang-based Jinyu Home Textile Industrial Company.

However, the head of the company, surnamed Jin told Global Times that it has only made souvenir products for the games, rather than national flags.