The shirt features are large logo on the front showing the word “Wuhan” within a bat-like symbol. The icon looks to be a play on the familiar Wu-Tang Clan emblem.
The American rap group’s logo is not actually a bat, though; it’s a ‘W’, for ‘Wu-Tang Clan’.
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Unfortunately for Wuhan, many people now associate the city with bats; this is due to a little rumor that someone there ate a bat which then started a life- altering global pandemic.
Now, unfortunately for this diplomat, China is very defensive about Wuhan’s new association to bats.
It did not help what Canada has called a “misunderstanding” when reports of the T-shirt order circulating on China’s Weibo only described the emblem as depicting a bat, without once mentioning the likeness to Wu-Tang Clan’s famous icon.
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China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said, “We are very shocked by this and have lodged representations with Canada, asking for a thorough investigation and a clear explanation.”
The subject is clearly a sore spot for China and I doubt any response will satisfy them. At worst it will be something like, ‘We just thought it was a sick logo…we don’t mean “sick from eating a bat” sick, more like dope’.
So far all we know is a spokesperson for Canada’s foreign service told Reuters, “We regret the misunderstanding.”
You’ve got to be slightly suspicious how much Canada regrets something when they don’t say 'sorry' - they love saying it.
“The T-shirt logo designed by a member of the embassy shows a stylised W, and is not intended to represent a bat. It was created for the team of embassy staff working on repatriation of Canadians from Wuhan in early 2020.”
There is another big misunderstanding in all this and that is why the Canadian Embassy is ordering custom novelty T-shirts.
Maybe they had a staff party where you had to pick a town and rap band to dress as. We should check they haven’t made more custom t-shirts for ‘Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Florence” or “A Tribe Called Quebec”.
Main Image: Instagram|@wutangclan
