Why is Gu Ailing Chinese?

Gu Ailing grew up with a love of Chinese culture.

Gu Ailing's father is an American who graduated from Harvard University in the U.S. Her mother, Gu Yan, is a Beijinger who graduated from Peking University in China as an undergraduate and then went to the U.S. to study, earning an MBA from Stanford University, where she was a ski instructor.

Grandfather Gu Zhenguang was a soccer starter at a prestigious Chinese school. Her maternal grandmother, Feng Guozhen, a retired cadre from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, taught Gu Ailing how to speak Chinese, eat Chinese food and tell her Chinese stories when she was a child, and Gu Ailing also went back to Beijing with her mother from time to time for vacations, along with Gu Yan, who placed special emphasis on educating Gu Ailing in Chinese language and traditional Chinese culture.

Since she was a child in Beijing's hutongs, she has been fluent in Chinese and has a good command of tongue twisters, and calls herself a Beijing girl who grew up in the hutongs.

Nationality change:

On June 6, 2019, 15-year-old Gu Ailing announced through her personal social media that she had formally changed her nationality to Chinese, and posted a message, "Chinese freestyle skier Gu Ailing reporting for duty." According to the official website of the Federation Internationale de Ski (FIS), in June 2019, Gu Ailing's registered nationality in the FIS has been changed from the United States to China.

Reference for the above: Baidu Encyclopedia - Valley Ailing