The 10 Domestic Stories Chinese Readers Can't Stop Following – May 26

Here’s today’s ranking of the top 10 most-read domestic stories in China, in economics, finance and current affairs. We want to help you get a sense of what’s trending in the Chinese language sphere.

Yesterday’s top two remains trending strong, while internet users have kept following new development of the deadly ultramarathon incident in Northwest China. Several new topics have quickly gained momentum to make the list ― such as China’s offering Covid-19 vaccines to the Taiwan region which has been heavily hit by a coronavirus surge.

1. China mourns the death of beloved plant scientist Yuan Longping

Yuan Longping, a beloved plant scientist (link in Chinese) whose major breakthroughs in developing high-yield hybrid strains of rice were critical to famine and poverty alleviation efforts across much of Asia and Africa, died on Saturday in Changsha, aged 90.

2. Deadly hit and run attack in Dalian undertaken by perpetrator as “revenge on society”

Five people were killed on Saturday in the northeastern city of Dalian, when a man drove his car (link in Chinese) at speed into a crowd of pedestrians. The 32-year-old suspect, surnamed Liu, has been detained. It is reported that he was upset because of a failed investment and wanted to “take revenge on society”.

3. 21 runners killed during mountain race in China’s northwestern province of Gansu

21 people were killed after extreme weather including hail, freezing rain and high winds hit runners participating in a 100 km cross-country mountain race in China, local officials have said.

4. Paper soars in price as paper mills shut down production

Since March a number of paper companies suddenly announced shutdowns for maintenance. Consequently, the price of pulp used in papermaking rose, causing paper prices to skyrocket (external source, in Chinese), with some paper mills having to shut down.

5. Cases of Indian variant found in Guangzhou

According to public health authorities in Guangzhou’s Liwan district, a person has been found to have tested positive (external source in Chinese) for the new mutated strain of COVID-19 thought to have originated in India. Authorities have quarantined the individual and begun thorough contact tracing.

6. Mainland expresses willingness to arrange for vaccines to be sent to the Taiwan region

A spokesperson for the Chinese government’s Taiwan Affairs office has said that they are willing to make arrangements (external source, in Chinese) so that residents in Taiwan will have vaccines available from the mainland as soon as possible.

7. Personal credit reports found to include insulting words

Certain financial institutions in China have reportedly been using humiliating or insulting language (external source, in Chinese) to deliberately harm the personal credit reports of individuals, with one woman listed as having “worked as a prostitute for 10 years” by one institution.

8. Nanjing government announces that the city will no longer approve the construction of villas

New planning rules implemented by the municipal government in the eastern city of Nanjing strictly prohibit (external source, in Chinese) the construction of villas and other such low-rise residential buildings. The rules further stipulate that any low-rise buildings that are allowed to be built should meet the requirements of the urban design in the area where they are located, paying attention to scale, proportion, volume, style and color, etc., while being in harmony with the surrounding environment.

9. Government monitors real-time building data for Shenzhen’s shaking SEG Plaza

The Futian District Government in Shenzhen released a report (external source in Chinese) on the real-time monitoring of the SEG Building. According to the report, professional institutions continue to monitor the building’s tilt rate, acceleration and other conditions of the SEG Plaza in real time. The expert group said that as of noon on May 23, the monitoring data was normal and did not exceed the requirements of the corresponding standards.

10. Current Chinese vaccines are effective against mutated strains of COVID-19

Shao Yiming, a researcher at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and a member of the vaccine R&D expert team of the Scientific Research Group, said at a press conference that preliminary research results show that China’s existing vaccines can deal with Indian variants (external source, in Chinese) and can produce a certain degree of protection.

Read the top 10 global news on the same day.

Translated by intern reporter Harry Nicholls.

The daily ranking of most read news stories among Chinese people, about China and global affairs, is jointly provided to you by Caixin Insight and HANA Data, an artificial intelligence technology team.

The key indicators calculated on the list are based on mass data sourced from China’s mainstream social media platforms and online news websites. Click here for a detailed introduction of our methodology.