TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A scene at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics opening show on Friday (Feb. 4) has been interpreted by Chinese netizens as an analog of the cross-strait relationship.

A program in the opening spectacle featured hundreds of children holding peace dove-shaped lanterns and gathered to form a heart at the center of the stage. One of the kids appeared to be lagging behind and was only able to find her way back to the group with the assistance of a senior performer.

The scene has triggered heated talk among netizens in China’s microblog platform Weibo, with some reading much into the performance. Some netizens believe the “missing dove” was intended as a metaphor for “Taiwan losing its way” and waiting to be “brought back into China’s fold,” per hk01.

In a Weibo post, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China shared a GIF image of the scene, with the Chinese caption “Lost child, go home early.” The fact that the “lone dove” was standing to the southeast of the “flock of doves” only makes the parallel more compelling considering the location of Taiwan.

Despite all the buzz about the hidden meaning of the scene, it was actually taken from what really happened during the rehearsals of the show. In a session, a ten-year-old girl moved too slowly to catch up with other dancers, which inspired the director.

GIF captioned "Lost child, go home early." (Weibo screenshot)

(Weibo image)