As the Olympics get underway, the Chinese sentiment towards the event is strong. The country’s outlook on world sport has been overwhelmingly positive since Beijing 2008 and some early successes are helping this along.
Paris is a city whose history and culture has a place in the Chinese public’s imagination and the tourism-friendly images are proving popular.
Each of the major social platforms have designed dedicated pages for the Olympics, some of them using their own content, others curating user content around the events.


But what about the opening ceremony?
Sentiment in China towards the opening ceremony has been mixed because of the LGBTQ content.
There is still excitement for the Olympics, positive feedback on the dramatic aesthetics such as the metallic horse carrying a knight to pass the flag and the lighting of Olympic flame in the hot-air balloon.
The limited rehearsal and the decreased filming quality because of rain, without aplan B, were criticized on Chinese social media.
The LGBTQ-themed scene and the trio-love scene has led to a wave of discussion.
Such scenes are never seen on Chinese social media and viewers were surprised that they were included in the coverage. The commentators simply fell silent throughout the love trio scenes and the Bacchus scene.
Social media commentators thought broadcasters would cut these scenes from any replay, but it’s been kept in full.
In general, the feeling is that the issues were given too much prominence over sport in the event.
Mainstream Chinese media, such as this CCTV News article, has focussed on more top-level concepts, showcasing the uniting forces of sport and Olympic ideals.