Last week Friday, it was officially confirmed that Beijing will be hosting the upcoming Winter Olympics in 2022 - a decision that a good number of pundits have predicted. China's capital was the only one of two cities, the other being Almaty, Kazakhstan, left in contention after Oslo, Stockholm, Lviv, and Krakow withdrew from the Olympic venue selection race.
And now, in the wake of the announcement, it has been learned that one of the 10 official theme songs for the games sounded very similar to hit animated flick "Frozen's" Oscar-winning hit song, "Let It Go."
"Both ballads begin with an eight-beat piano intro, have very similar tempos and use the same chords in some parts," Time noted.
"According to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics bid committee's website, 'Snow and Ice Dance' is composed by Zhao Zhao, a graduate from the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music," The Epoch Times said. "Zhao was one of the composers for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, and was the producer of 'Best Wishes From Beijing,' China's official song for the 2012 London Olympics."
The lyrics of the song, however, are "very different" from the Disney movie's hit song. The "Frozen"-sounding theme song is performed as a duet by Sun Nan and Tan Jing.
A good number of those who have heard the song, even Chinese social media users, have noted the eerie similarity.
"This is so embarrassing. How many times is this going to be played during the Winter Olympics," commented one, as noted by The Epoch Times.
"If this song is really going to be played [during the Games], I would rather that we didn't get awarded the Winter Olympics~we cannot face such humiliation," chimed in another.
Another has commented that the seeming musical rip-off validates China's reputation for piracy.
Apparently, this is not the first time the country has been accused of ripping off something Disney - well, aside from the toys and merchandise.
"In July, Chinese citizens accused the movie 'Autobots' for plagiarizing Disney and Pixar's 2006 film 'Cars,'" the news portal revealed.
Previously, the choice of Beijing as a Winter Olympics venue raised questions as the place lacks snow. Even though the International Olympic Committee was aware of this glaring fact, it pushed on with Beijing as it is seen as a "safer choice" than Almaty, which has no experience in hosting a major sporting event.
As Beijing isn't mountainous, some of the events will be held in Yanqing, which is about 55 miles away, and Zhangjiakou (100 miles away). But even these venues experience minimal snow fall. As such, the host will "rely completely on artificial snow," according to Gizmodo.
LISTEN: