As a medal list regular, China is one of the most-anticipated squads in the Olympic Games. Yet, in the eyes of fashionistas, it is another story.
Team China unveiled its uniform for the upcoming Rio Olympics on Tuesday, featuring a mixed palette of red and yellow.
For women, a yellow blazer adds a bright hue to the combination of white blouse, dress and shoes, with a monochromic scarf for a little briskness. Men will wear white trousers and switch the blazer to a red one.
The bold and color-clashing style has stayed congruous with the Chinese contingent's choice in the previous two Olympiads in Beijing and London, respectively.
Both red and yellow are considered auspicious in traditional Chinese chromatics. The two dominant colors, according to uniform designer Ye Chaoying, were inspired by China's national flag.
Such consistence, however, was seen as proof of routinism from pundits, receiving a mixture of disappointment, mockery and confusion online. The combo of red and yellow has earned the uniform a moniker: scrambled eggs, a household dish in China. Newspaper People's Daily mischievously added a picture of the popular dish to its post on Sina Weibo.
Many comments described the design as "ugly". While some observers noted its cultural connotations, others questioned the aesthetics and demanded diversity.
Weibo user Lord Jiangye said: "Every time it's the same old. By (copying) the national flag's color, it's a design now! No originality at all."
Defying the largely disapproving online reviews, one of the athletes who will actually wear it gave the design the thumb up.
"Compared with 2008 and 2012 uniforms, I think the 2016 uniform is soft and I like it," Olympic foil champion Lei Sheng told the Xinhua news agency on Tuesday.
The uniform will make its official debut when China's athletes step into the opening ceremony in Rio.
China will send about 400 athletes to the tournament, which will open on August 6 (Beijing Time). Four years ago in London, China finished second behind the United Sates in the medal tally, with 88 medals.
Meanwhile, with only two months to go, doubts still shroud the first Olympics in South America amid worsening security, Zika inflection and Brazil's political turmoil.
