41-year-old Chinese singer Su Xing recently participated in "Call Me by Fire 5." He recently attended a music festival performance in Xi'an, but due to a comment about spicy soup (hula tang), he sparked a "regional conflict." On September 29th, he issued a video apology for this.
During his September 27th performance, Su Xing used dialect to recommend local delicacies from his hometown, saying: "Only Xi'an's meatball spicy soup is the real spicy soup, the Henan spicy soup really isn't." As a result, many Henan netizens considered his words to be "regional discrimination" and belittling of Henan's traditional food culture.
In response, on the evening of September 29th, Su Xing released an apology video on his social media, admitting that his comments were poorly thought out.
In the video, he said: "I am truly, truly sorry. I really didn't expect such a strong reaction from friends in Henan. I do feel that what I said was inappropriate, but I was simply expressing my love for my hometown's food." He also said that as a public figure, he should not have hurt the feelings of people from other regions, and added, "Henan is a wonderful place. If I get a chance, I definitely want to visit."
The Henan Spicy Soup Association subsequently responded to the issue, especially emphasizing that spicy soup originally originated from Xiaoyao Town in Zhoukou, Henan, and is a national intangible cultural heritage.
The association stated that the versions of spicy soup in other provinces are all later adaptations, but the most authentic is still the Henan spicy soup.
News source: ETtoday Xing Guang Yun