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China’s Esports Champion Ming Kai Joins the Communist Party of China

Net Café boys going places.
By Isabella Jiangcheng
Nov. 25, 2021 updated 02:36

Following China’s Edward Gaming team (EDG) winning its first League of Legends (LoL) World Championship, Chinese esports player Ming Kai (Clearlove) decided to take the oath and joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Shanghai. Ming is the first Chinese esports League of Legends Pro League (LPL) player that officially joined the CPC. 

Ming Kai was one of the founding members of EDG, using the title ‘LPL001’ in games. He has been an active professional player for ten years and has won other international championships. He currently has 1.39 million followers on Weibo. After joining the CPC, Ming released a statement on Weibo expressing his gratitude. Ming also promises to “raise his standards in the future and continue to contribute his best performance for the esports industry.” 

The original video of Ming talking the oath first appeared in mainstream media on China’s state-owned news outlet, Peng Pai. The video was titled “The Party can rest assured that I will continue to play at my best” 请党放心,我会继续好好打游戏, but it has since been taken down by the website.

Currently, this article can no longer be found on Peng PaiCurrently, this article can no longer be found on Peng Pai

However, topic #lpl001明凯入党# (LPL001 Ming Kai joins the CPC) soon reached no. 7 on Weibo’s trending chart, but the reaction from Chinese esports fans is mixed. Many players view Ming’s move as a positive sign of how esports in China will incorporate with Chinese mainstream values and have a better reception by the general public, but others were baffled why esports players are meddling with politics.

The topic has received 88.2 million views within two daysThe topic has received 88.2 million views within two days