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Alysa Liu and Eileen Gu: Two Chinese diaspora daughters, two different flags
Both Chinese-Americans share parallel childhoods, but at the Winter Olympics, they have been cast as symbols of a divided era.
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Alysa Liu (left) and Eileen Gu share parallel childhoods, but at the Winter Olympics, the two Chinese-American champions have been cast as symbols of a divided era.
PHOTOS: EPA, AFP
A video on YouTube of a 2018 dinner of the Northern California Chinese Culture Athletic Federation shows two shy and self-conscious Asian-American girls being coaxed to the front of the room to join a singalong of Alicia Keys’ Girl On Fire.
A Chinese aunty thrusts a microphone at the reluctant teenagers – a lanky 14-year-old Eileen Gu and, beside her at barely half her height, 12-year-old Alysa Liu. The girls awkwardly mouth the female-empowerment anthem, clearly not feeling the moment.
