Trending in China: Chinese Model Defends Shape of Her Eyes in Controversial Ad

What’s trending?

An advertisement for snack retailer Three Squirrels featuring a Chinese model with “squinty eyes” has sparked a heated debate online over Western stereotypes of Chinese people, with angry internet users accusing the model of “insulting China.”

The debate widened after the model, who goes by Cai Niangniang on China’s Twitter-like microblogging platform Weibo, hit back at the users’ claims Sunday night, saying she was born with narrow, small eyes and she suffered cyberbullying.