The Chinese bagpipers who welcomed Scots curlers on to the ice yesterday revealed they love all our traditions – apart from going commando under a kilt.
Scots teammates Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds were piped on to the ice by the Beijing Military Pipe Band sporting kilts and bagpipes made in Scotland.
The six pipers have never visited Scotland and the freezing temperatures in the venues mean they never take off their undies.
Captain Zhang Ali, who keeps his mobile phone in his sporran revealed: “The sound of the Scottish bagpipes is really charming.
“I once heard it and fell in love with it. So I found a teacher to teach me.
“We try to be as close as we can to traditions but it’s cold – we have our undies for sure.”
Zhang said there were few bagpipe players in China because they are “very difficult to play”.
He added: “It demands a very long breath.”
The band, who have played at curling contests across the country, ordered their uniforms from Scotland in 2018.
Performance venues include the British embassy and Scottish events.
They have been seen at all curling bonspiels (tournaments) in China since 2016.
Tradition dictates that a true Scotsman never wears anything under his kilt.
But a recent poll showed more than half who have worn one for an event put on underwear.
Tennis star Andy Murray famously joked that he would be “freeballing” when he tied the knot with his bride-to-be Kim Sears in Dunblane seven years ago.
But he had earlier admitted that he wore underwear with a kilt for his brother Jamie’s wedding.
Formula 1 Racing Driver David Coulthard, born in Twynholm, Kirkcudbrightshire, insists that he never dons underwear as tradition demands.
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