Hong Kong IS China.

When we were in the Netherlands a coupel of years ago, we were there in early December, wwhich is when Sinter Klaas and Black Peter (Yeah, that's his name) have their Day. There were wonderful costumed versions of them everywhere. Like this: [link]

Not my picture, but we saw many random versions of this parade. My fave was seeing Black Peters in full satiny regalia and adidas shoes.

Hong Kong IS China.

Didn't they march in separately in the opening ceremonies? That seemed weird.

Honestly, I don't even know what that means.

(Like yesterday's initials, how glad am I not to be alone in this?)

This is where Google took me:

The quote is "I'm gonna love him, and squeeze him and call him George." I comes from the book Of Mice and Men. You also hear it in an early Bugs Bunny cartoon. I also believe that Dot from the Animaniacs said it too.

Are you confusing Hong Kong with Taiwan?

Hong Kong was under lease to Great Britain - you don't remember that big deal when the lease was done?

Hong Kong IS China.

Didn't they march in separately in the opening ceremonies? That seemed weird.

They did, sort of like how Puerto Rico marched separately of the US.

Oh yeah, I guess Bugs Bunny is the reference. It rings a faint bell.

Didn't they march in separately in the opening ceremonies? That seemed weird.

But so did Puerto Rico, didn't they? And like American Samoa? There were a couple clearly US territories that get their own teams.

Wait, I thought we were supposed to pet things and call them George?

A shocking confession: Honestly, I don't even know what that means.

It's from the Warner Brothers cartoons featuring the Abominable Snowman, who was always grabbing the WB leads (from Bugs Bunny to Daffy Duck) and trying to adopt them, saying, "Oh boy! A little bunny rabbit! Just what I always wanted! I will name him George, and I will hug him..."

It's an homage to Lenny from Of Mice and Men.

because of Chinese quarantine restrictions on the horses being too much of a pain to deal with?? How weird is that?!?

Not that weird -- it's always been an issue in animal sports to have really international competition when a few countries make it very difficult either to host competitions or to allow their own competitors to travel internationally. The UK used to be especially bad, but they've always made exceptions for the Olympics (especially since they've hosted a metric asston of times). Some of that has eased up a bit since disease tracking got more modern and less handwavey.

eta: As noted, Hong Kong is China, but Sumi, do you know if quarantine regs are different there than the mainland?

HK got its own Olympic team when it was still a British colony - apparently, the only reason for it continuing is tradition? Perhaps HK likes not being fully assimilated back into the mainland?