What’s trending?

#航天服的设计是湘潭大学的

The hashtag Spacesuit-design-belongs-to-Xiangtan-University was trending on Weibo on Friday, as an academic dispute broke out over who can take credit for the recent sartorial achievements of China’s space program. As two of the country’s latest cohort of astronauts conducted their first spacewalk on Sunday, two universities down on Earth were squabbling about who had designed the cutting-edge spacesuit they were wearing.

The dispute has attracted at least 170 million views, and 48,000 comments.

What’s the story?

After Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo wore the new Feitian spacesuit during their spacewalk, scientists at the two Hunan province universities took to TV and the microblogging platform Weibo to claim the design.

According to state media Global Times, the new spacesuit can support spacewalks of up to seven or eight hours, up from the four hours possible with older designs.

Hunan University, in the provincial capital Changsha, posted of its pride in its technological achievement, while Xiangtan University in the smaller city of Xiangtan announced in an article posted online that the spacesuit had been designed by its Industrial Design Department.

Hunan University’s professor Luo Jianping subsequently appeared on CCTV’s discussion show “Focus” at which he and a colleague again touted that the design came from their institution. However Xiangtan University professor Ma Qiucheng wrote on Weibo that the spacesuit had been part of an eight-year Xiangtan University project which Luo had worked on before moving to Hunan University last year.

Ma wrote on Weibo that “going to a new university, promoting your new work unit and yourself are understandable, but only on the provision that you are speaking the truth. Going your own way is fine, but not if it blocks the way for others…For personal profit, it’s not acceptable to tarnish the name of your previous university or take their copyright.”

What are people saying online?

Some commenters expressed admiration of Xiangtan University’s statements. “Such tough criticism by professor Ma.”

One Hunan University alumni felt hoodwinked by his college. “As a Hunanese studying abroad, I browsed my alma mater’s public tweets but didn’t know if they were right or wrong. I feel cheated by Luo’s lack of integrity.”

Another Weibo user expressed more general disgust at the academic affair. “Is this really the attitude and quality of researchers in scientific research?”

A Xiangtan University student wrote, “The results of our university shouldn’t be taken from us in such a blatant way.” Another wrote, “Hunan University’s achievements?! Seek truth from facts! Shameful plagiarism.”

Related: Chinese Scientists Defend Research That Got Male Rats Pregnant

What’s trending?

#航天科技集团通报张陶打人事件#

Police detained a senior Chinese aerospace executive Monday in connection with an incident last month in which he allegedly attacked two senior academics after they refused to help him join an international academy.

Video footage circulating online purports to show Zhang Tao, chairman of state-owned China Aerospace Investment Holdings, punching and kicking Wu Meirong and the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Wang Jinnian following a boozy dinner on June 6 in Beijing.

China Aerospace Investment Holdings is a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., the main contractor for China’s space program.

What’s the story?

Zhang reportedly invited the two scholars to make a presentation on their work at the company’s office, after which he invited them to a dinner where they drank. Zhang reportedly asked them to recommend he get admitted to the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), a request that the scientists — both IAA members —apparently turned down amidst heated discussion.

On sending the pair home to a residential compound in Chaoyang district, Zhang ambushed 55-year-old Wang and hit him repeatedly, with 85-year-old Wu getting injured in the tussle. The two scholars were treated for their injuries, including possible rib fractures, on June 11 and June 14.

The state-run newspaper People’s Daily reported that China Aerospace Investment had suspended Zhang from his duties on July 4 pending the conclusion of the police investigation. The company will also conduct its own probe.

What are people saying online?

Regarding the selection criteria for IAA members, an industry insider wrote on social media, “If we elect Chinese academicians with such poor communication skills, how can we cooperate with our foreign counterparts?”

One Weibo user commented sarcastically, “Strictly punishing bureaucrats who beat scientists is how we respect the aerospace industry!”

Another wrote hopefully, “If we protect our scientists, a powerful country of science and technology is just around the corner!”

Online commentators find it curious that it took a month to make the case was public. “State-owned enterprise boss hits an academician and the news seeps out very slowly,” one said.

Related: FBI Agent Admits in Court to Falsely Accusing Ex-Professor of Spying for China

Contact reporter Heather Mowbray (heathermowbray@caixin.com) and editor Joshua Dummer (joshuadummer@caixin.com)

What’s trending?

A professor at Yanshan University in the coastal city of Qinhuangdao, Hebei province, has written a paper he claims overturns Einstein’s theory of relativity, saying that “the relative speed between two objects can be faster than the speed of light.” His work, published in a peer-reviewed journal 13 years ago, has been proposed for the 2021 Hebei Science and Technology Award, which has led it to trend on Weibo to the tune of 180 million views.

#燕山大学教授称已推翻爱因斯坦相对论#

What’s the story?

Professor Li Zifeng’s paper, titled “Special relativity arising from a misunderstanding of experimental results on the constant speed of light,” was published in the journal “Physics Essays” 12 years ago. The paper “reviews the basic hypotheses and viewpoints of space-time relationship in special relativity,” finding that “special relativity based on the Lorentz continuum is not correct.”

The paper professes to debunk Einstein’s famous theory of special relativity, which was posited in 1905 and gained acceptance by peers a hundred years ago. Since then, Einstein’s predictions have been confirmed many times. The engineering of satellites, GPS, electron microscopes, and particle accelerators all take relativity into consideration. Li’s paper has yet to replace current theory on how the universe works.

The Hebei Science and Technology Award committee welcomed opinions on the proposed award-winning research from all academic and general readers from June 10 to June 16.

Following huge social media interest, the professor attempted to dampen public expectations, responded on a social media platform that the award has not yet been given out, and that he was unlikely to receive it. The Hebei Provincial Department of Education said that it did not know about the matter and would wait for permission before responding.

The original publisher, a Canadian-based international journal founded in 1988, boasts a Nobel laureate among its founding board members, and says it is an “elite journal” that is “dedicated to fundamental questions in physics.”

What are people saying online?

General disbelief abounded in the comments section of the Weibo thread regarding the affair, as the professor responded to general opprobrium of his research. One reader asked, “Do we have no shame?”

The university appears to have done itself no favors by publicizing the physics professor’s work. Another comment said, “Promote the truth? Is this disruptive innovation (a business strategy) applied to physics research by Yanshan University?”

One top comment went further: “This man disrupted teaching in his own school, arbitrarily set examination questions based on his own theory, was suspended from teaching for three years, and here he is still jumping around.”

Another reader wondered if “Maybe Einstein should have a little chat with him.”

Contact reporter Heather Mowbray (heathermowbray@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)

Related: Weekend Long Read: 985 Issues With Finding a Spouse in China

What’s trending?

Two months after celebrating his 100th birthday and just short of his goal of translating the collected works of Shakespeare, renowned translator and professor Xu Yuanchong died Thursday, according to a post on Peking University’s official Weibo account. Some 530 million views of the hashtag #Xu Yuanchong-has-passed-away have been recorded by Friday afternoon.

What’s the story?

Born in Nanchang, East China’s Jiangxi province, in 1921, Xu began translating French and English into Chinese as a scholar in Paris. His efforts gave Chinese readers a chance to read Gustave Flaubert’s “Madame Bovary,” and Marcel Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time” in their own language. He is well known abroad for translating classical Chinese poetry, and “The Analects” of Confucius into English, with an emphasis on communicating the look and feel of the works, not just their meaning.

Xu married Zhao Jun in 1959 in Beijing. They have a son, Xu Ming, who is also a translator. The elder Xu’s wife died in 2018, at age 85. In recent years, he spent most of his time translating Shakespeare, with the goal of publishing the Bard of Avon’s collected works in Chinese by the time he turned 100. There’s a documentary in the works about the project. In 2014, Xu was awarded the prestigious Aurora Borealis Prize.

What are people saying online?

Memories in their thousands have been shared in the comments section of Weibo hashtags mourning the celebrated translator. “Crying on the train ... I will never forget the lovely interactions between the protagonists in ‘The Reader,’ and all the classic works translated by Mr. Xu.”

On Twitter, one translator said “his heavy rhyming style [of poetry translation] may have gone out of fashion, but Xu was a pioneer, and one of a kind.”

One student wrote: “My favorite teacher Xu Yuanchong, I only look at your poetry translations, because you understand the meaning. Your love of Chinese literature and English shines through.”

Another person familiar with Professor Xu wrote, “I remember Mr. Xu handing out his business card at a reading. It said, ‘Chinese and foreign 100-book bestseller’ and ‘[China’s] … only French and English poetry translator.’ All these people we study leave us one by one.”

Related: Trending in China: Should Online Critics Be Forced to Apologize for Giving Bad Reviews?

What’s trending?

With more than 14 million followers on Weibo, Wanda Group heir Wang Sicong regularly attracts a six-figure viewership for his posts on wealth, celebrity and women. On Tuesday, the 33-year-old was himself the subject of a trending story by livestreamer Sun Yining about contact between them over the past four years in which she describes feeling “afraid.”

Wang Sicong is son of the chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, Wang Jianlin, who has a net worth of $14 billion, according to Forbes. The older Wang fell down the rich list in 2020 as his real estate and cinema groups lost out during the Coronavirus pandemic, but Dalian Wanda Group remains one of China's largest real estate development company.

What’s the story?

Sun took to Weibo Tuesday to itemize uncomfortable encounters between the two, which included Wang sending Sun gift money on her streaming channel, showing up at her home uninvited, claiming she was his girlfriend in front of friends and disputing her word when she told him she was a lesbian.

Wang, a board member of his father's conglomerate and chairman of Prometheus Capital, a private equity investment company, is considered one of China's most eligible bachelors and is often seen out and about with models and online celebrities. The second-generation billionaire responded to Sun’s accusations saying the relationship between the two had had warmer periods, posting screenshots of other messages as evidence.

What are people saying online?

Sun’s post attracted more than 113,000 comments and was a top trending story on the social media platform Wednesday. Screenshots of messages between the two show his insistent and domineering attempts to have a romantic relationship with Sun while she tries to distance herself from the wealthy scion.

Social media users have posted screenshots of WeChat commentary by friends imitating Wang’s chat-up lines and ridiculing his defense on WeChat that he is no “licking dog,” a term that describes a man who will do anything to gain someone’s attention. One popular comment addressed Wang with, “You’ve raised the bar for being a licking dog.”

Supporters of Sun praised her for speaking up, saying, “The first one who dares to talk back at Wang Sicong is our sister Ning.” Others said she was lying and they hoped people would see through her act.

Related: Esports Startup VSPN Raises Fresh Capital to Expand Its Global Reach

What’s trending?

A video of a woman berating a fellow bus passenger on a Beijing bus went viral on Tuesday, with the related hashtag #Woman-cursed-passenger-for-being-slow-to-give-up-their-seat accruing 450 million views and 16,000 comments on Weibo by Wednesday evening.

What’s the story?

A video shows the woman, who claims to be physically disabled, confront a younger woman for not giving up her seat.

The 63-year-old, who says she is a local of the capital, loudly insults the other passenger, calling her a “stinky migrant” and accusing her of “begging in Beijing.” She was subsequently detained and has since apologized for her behavior.

According to the latest census, Beijing’s official population stands at 21.89 million of which 38.5% originate from outside the city. The number of registered migrants in the capital has swelled by 19.5 % in the past decade.

What are people saying online?

Social media users condemned the older woman’s sense of superiority and her rudeness. One comment said, “On public transportation, you should be grateful that others give up their seats for you if there are no priority seats. And if they don’t, it is also fine. You got the seat in the end and kept swearing?”

Some readers were outraged by the Beijing native’s discriminatory remarks about migrants. “Does the prosperity of a city depend only on the locals? No city can live without migrants. Only a city with people in it can have what it wants!”

One reader pointed out that this incident reflects “psychological pressure faced by locals when their living space is squeezed,” going on to say, “It pokes at the pain of migrants in the north, and at the tears of local residents.”

Related: China to Make It Easier for Rural Workers and Students to Get Residency Status in Cities

What’s trending?

Following the release of the essay prompts included in the annual college entrance exam or “gaokao,” online debate has centered around one of the topics chosen this year — Communist Party history.

The hashtag #Gaokao-composition has been viewed 5 billion times and received 2.2 million comments as of Monday afternoon.

What’s the story?

Since it resumed in 1977 following the end of the Cultural Revolution, the gaokao has been a national fixation. One hot topic of discussion every year is the Chinese literature exam, with essay questions often picked apart by social media users keen to give their two cents about the topics chosen.

Communist Party history made it onto this year’s list of prompts, with one of the eight papers offered asking students to reflect on the century-long struggle that the Chinese people have “integrated into their souls.”

Other questions addressed responsibility and commitment in one’s youth, the pursuit of ideals, and the meaning of life.

What are people saying online?

With the approaching 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party, the political content of this year’s gaokao sparked discussion among China’s social media users. Many expressed support with one comment reading, “No great poet or writer can be separated from his time. Is it useful to select talents without considering the development of China? When will cultural confidence be achieved if the essay test is not about the country and its youth?”

However, some readers felt that the prompts weren’t the best way to assess students, with one saying that “these essay questions cannot show off students’ active thinking and don’t do much to encourage boldness or creativity. It is hard to gain any reflection of a student’s literary talent [from them].”

One reader suggested that “fostering patriotic fervor and correct values in students is a matter for politics and history classes, while the Chinese exam should be all about Chinese.”

Related: Trending in China: Are People Without Degrees ‘Intellectually Challenged’? HR Statement Sparks Outrage 

What’s trending?

Timed to coincide with International Children’s Day, the Ministry of Education released Regulations on the Protection of Minors in Schools, which requires schools to provide sex education. The news has received thousands of comments on social media expressing hope the reform will be rolled out in a helpful way for the nation’s youth.

The hashtag #Ministry-of-Education-requires-schools-to-start-sex-ed has been viewed 330 million times and received 43,000 comments.

What’s the story?

Schools have been required to provide sex education so that students can protect themselves from sexual abuse and harassment, learn more about their physical health and increase their awareness of sexual issues.

Schools are required to establish a systematic workflow for preventing, reporting, and dealing with sexual assault and harassment that must include putting regulations in place in dorms and using video surveillance.

Staff at educational institutions are now explicitly forbidden from having romantic or sexual relationships with students. Any who do will be dismissed and have their teaching credentials revoked. Moreover, they will be barred from the education profession for life, the regulations said.

What are people saying online?

Social media users commented in the thousands, with many hoping the reform will address children’s real issues in a flexible and open-minded way, rather than taking a blanket approach to a complex topic. One comment read: “Schools need to be open in telling students and parents that sex education is an essential part of a student’s development. Don't reject sex education because of shame.”

Most Weibo users have expressed support for this reform, believing it is necessary to protect the young. One reader offered a warning, “You think sex education comes too early, but sex offenders won’t mind your kids being too young!”

Another reader noted that sex education should not be limited to the physical, but should also include psychological advice too. “Children who are born attracted to the same sex should not be discriminated against, as this may leave them with self-doubt and low self-esteem.”

Related: China Sets Up National Body to Take On Child Abuse

What’s trending?

Online followers of the caravan of 15 wild Asian elephants that just entered the outskirts of the capital of Yunnan province have grown concerned about ramifications of the herd’s march across the province.

The herd’s continued northward migration since November has been received with snowballing public interest on Weibo and other social media platforms in China.

As of Thursday afternoon, the hashtag #wild-elephant-herd-entering-Kunming had received 84 million views and more than 4,000 comments.

What’s the story?

According to China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency, the herd of 15 elephants reached the boundary of Kunming’s Jinning district at 9:55 p.m. Wednesday.

Early this morning, the elephant herd appeared in the jungle near Shuanghe township in Jinning. At present, dozens of trucks have been standing by at the pass into the urban area of Jinning, ready to stop the elephants from entering.

The wild elephants, which originally lived in the Xishuangbanna Elephant Reserve in Yunnan, have been marching northward since March, already passing through the cities of Pu’er and Yuxi, as well as the Honghe Hani and Yi autonomous prefecture.

Elephant experts have been sent from Yuxi to Kunming to try to predict their migratory route. Twelve drones are monitoring the elephants’ path and 10 tons of elephant food has been set aside.

What are people saying online?

As elephants approach densely populated urban areas, social media users have grown concerned, and wary. One popular comment noted that it was important to “control some of the internet influencers who find it attention-grabbing,” suggesting that they be prevented from approaching the elephants.

Some social media users joked about the size of the herd in reference to China’s three-child policy, which was promulgated a few days ago. “Three male elephants, three female elephants, and nine baby elephants — what a good model for the national family planning policy!”

One reader expressed concern about this rare elephant migration. “How can they ever return to the forest when people feed them the entire way? Even if they do go back, they will come back next year.”

Related: Gallery: Yunnan Tracks Wild Elephant Herd

Contact editor Heather Mowbray (heathermowbray@caixin.com)

What’s trending?

On Monday, the eve of International Children’s Day, it was announced that China would adjust its family planning policy to allow all couples to have up to three children.

The announcement was met with huge interest from millions of Weibo users, 6 million of whom posted comments under the hashtag #Three-child-policy-has-arrived.

What’s the story?

In 2015, China’s one-child policy was loosened to permit all families to have two children. The baby boom that followed was short-lived however, and the birthrate has continued to sink, jeopardizing China’s economic future.

The high costs of raising a child have put many off having more than one kid, especially in big cities, with families preferring to focus their resources on a single offspring. Also, after almost 40 years of most couples having just one child, a three-person nuclear family is now the norm.

The sudden decision is, according to the official Xinhua News Agency, part of an effort to contain demographic challenges and improve China’s demographic structure.

What are people saying online?

On Weibo, posts asking how three-child families will be supported have been popular. “I won’t understand it until I get to see the supporting measures,” says one reader. Another popular comment says, “opening up the birth policy is essential and in line with societal needs, but if we don’t support people in giving birth, raising children and educating them, no matter how open the policy, our youth will be reluctant.”

Social media users have mocked up images of triplet strollers, high-rise bunk beds and housing floor plans big enough for a trio of toddlers. A popular depiction of the future imagines a 63-year-old who has to check on three kids, nine grandkids, and four seniors before taking the subway to work.

Given the unequal burden of childbirth, one female millennial wrote, “I’ve already had my two children, so I consider my duty fulfilled.” A male peer chimed in with, “Hurry up with medical advances, so men can give birth and carry their full share of the responsibility.”

Contact report Heather Mowbray (heathermowbray@caixin.com) and editor Joshua Dummer (joshuadummer@caixin.com)

Related: China Decides Couples Can Have Three Children

What’s trending?

In Yunnan province in the far southwest of China, a caravan of 15 wild Asian elephants is heading north, captivating social media users across the country.

Experts and readers are puzzled by the route they’ve chosen and alarmed by their proximity to urban areas.

One related hashtag, #15-elephants-are-just-120km-from-Kunming has 1.5 million views and over 1,200 comments.

What’s the story?

According to a blog on Phoenix Media, the herd of baby and adult elephants were livestreamed entering Eshan county in Yuxi, Yunnan, on Thursday and walking down a main road in an urban area. Residents in their path were evacuated, and those further along the herd’s route were alerted. The alarm sounded by local authorities also protected the baby elephants from being hit by cars.

The Provincial Forest Fire Brigade used drones and reconnaissance trackers to assist in keeping an eye on the herd in Eshan, reporting that it had left the urban area at 2 a.m. on Friday.

The 15 Asian elephants reportedly originated in an elephant reserve in tropical Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture. In December, they paid a visit to the neighboring city of Pu’er, a famous tea-growing region. By April, they had moved north and crossed into Yuxi.

The elephant caravan has damaged 842 acres of crops in the process of moving northward over 40 days, with economic losses estimated at 6.8 million yuan ($1 million).

What are people saying online?

Animals are one of the themes of the month on Chinese social media, with tigers and leopards and now elephants driving traffic. A popular comment was directed at Yunnan locals. “Reminder: if you encounter wild elephants, don’t stick around! First — you can’t outrun them. Second — you can’t beat them. Third — they can’t control their temper as well as you!”

Yunnan natives living outside the province saw the incident as a reinforcement of stereotypes about the tropical, forested region. “It was hard enough convincing people from outside Yunnan that the place wasn’t full of wild elephants. And now this! I have nothing left to say.”

Let’s not forget that this drama still ongoing, as of the time of publication. With the elephants making a rare trip north, who knows where they’ll end up? One reader remarked: “My father has been hooked on this story. And where will they head to next? [Yunnan’s capital] Kunming?”

Contact report Heather Mowbray (heathermowbray@caixin.com) and editor Joshua Dummer (joshuadummer@caixin.com)

Related: Trending in China: Two Deaths Spark Condemnation of Keeping Tigers in Captivity

What’s trending?

Big cats are trending on Weibo again, as tigers kept in captivity killed their keepers and were subsequently shot in two separate incidents in Anhui and Henan provinces on Sunday and Tuesday. Almost 3,000 comments were made under related hashtags on the social media site, which were viewed at least 10 million times.

What’s the story?

State media reported Sunday that a man was mauled to death by the Siberian tigers he cared for at the Zhanggongshan Zoo in Bengbu, Anhui in central China. Two days later, a circus owner became the focus of a similar tragedy when two tigers escaped their enclosure at the Peacock Valley attraction near the city of Nanyang in the central province of Henan after killing their keeper.

On Wednesday, the son of a circus owner in Suzhou, Anhui, who had leased two tigers to the Henan park, explained that the animals had been sent there illegally in 2020 when the circus could no longer afford to raise them due to canceled performances during the pandemic. He said his father had gone to Henan to cooperate with the investigation.

In May, news that three leopards had escaped from a zoo in Hangzhou rocked Chinese media, and outrage grew once the zoo admitted the animals had been in the wild since April 19. One leopard is still at large (link in Chinese).

What are people saying online?

Universal condemnation of the practice of holding wild animals captive in zoos spanned the comments section of this story on Weibo. “Two breeders were killed and two tigers were shot dead — a lose-lose situation. It’s the management loopholes that hurt people and tigers. Some accidents seem to be accidental, but they are actually the result of the accumulation of hidden dangers.”

“How can it be legal for the country to allow people to make money by turning protected animals into a source of entertainment?”

“After raising such animals for a long time, people start treating them like cats, and all sense of safety goes away. Last time in Hangzhou, this time in Nanyang — practitioners should be trained, and organizations fixed.”

“I went to our local zoo once during the Lunar New Year. Trapped in a confined space and fed by a keeper every day, the tiger’s mind would have snapped long ago.”

Related: Update: Police Launch Probe Into How Leopards Got Loose From East China Safari Park

Contact reporter Heather Mowbray (heathermowbray@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)

What’s trending?

China’s young adults have become taken with the idea of doing nothing as a way to circumvent the pressures of modern urban life. In recent weeks, 2 million readers have viewed jokes and examples of the “lying flat philosophy” under the hashtag #Should-young-people-promote-lying-flat-philosophy. Another buzzword — “involution,” or “neijuan” in Chinese — took social media by storm in January. The term describes the urban rat race that the “lying flat philosophy” is pushing back against.

What’s the story?

Interest in “lying flat philosophy” shows the rising prominence of an alternative way of thinking among young people who have decided to stop striving for mainstream goals such as buying a house, getting married and having a child. Instead, the philosophy’s proponents dream of living a low-key lifestyle in a smaller place, where they won’t end up as wage slaves consumed by consumerism. One Chinese media site called it a “silent and blameless protest.”

The buzzword first appeared on social media in September 2019 in the context of the phrase “doctors lie flat.” The China Business Journal explained that new recruits at Chinese clinics are openly questioning their career prospects, especially why they should struggle to secure a job at one of the top hospitals in Beijing, Shanghai or Guangdong province when they could have a good life in a third- or fourth-tier city after a decade of study on average.

As Gen Z’s control over the narrative on Chinese social media increases, buzzwords such as “lying flat” and “involution” have been growing in popularity. In an interview with the Chinese media site Sixth Tone, Oxford University anthropologist Xiang Biao described involution as “feeling as if you’re running in place and constantly having to motivate yourself day in, day out … [a] highly dynamic trap which consumes a lot of energy.”

What are people saying online?

Addressing young people’s struggles in the rat race, one social media user wrote with some sympathy: “Sometimes your ability only stretches so far — best not to beat yourself up over it.” Another responded, “It isn’t about not working hard; it’s about having different choices.”

Another said in support of young people, “It’s good to think for yourself and not blindly follow the mainstream.”

A post on Weibo referring to “lying flat” as an academic discipline broadened the scope of research to cultural references including Kafka and a 2020 Chinese documentary series, “Press Pause, Lie Down” — the first episode of which is about a young origami master in the northeastern city of Shenyang.

“If lying flat becomes a way of life in which people earn just enough to do nothing, then will we see lying flat artists, lying flat sculptors, lying flat coffee masters?” one concerned reader wrote.

A blogger called Mi Wufeng gave out this advice: “Don’t lie flat. First get some experience. I never see ‘success study’ written about [as] each person has their own pressures and anxieties.”

Imitating Chinese public notices telling people various dos and don’ts, one social media user asked 10 questions, including “If everyone lies flat, who will protect the country? Who will reverse the course of Covid? Who will explore Mars? Who will deliver your take-out?”

A cartoon mentioned one benefit of lying flat for ordinary people — often referred to as chives because they are regularly cut down to size. “When you’re lying flat, it’s hard to be snipped.”

Related: Weekend Long Read: Tracking the Proliferation of Jargon in Chinese Society

Contact reporter Heather Mowbray (heathermowbray@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)

What’s trending?

#湖畔大学改名#

A video of a worker using a blow torch to blast away the Chinese characters for “university” from a stone sign inscribed with the name of a Alibaba-backed private business school has been met with mockery by Chinese social media users, who viewed the clip 29 million times as of Wednesday afternoon.

The story of the video, which appeared under the hashtag #Hupan-Academy-changes-its-name, suggests that the e-commerce giant might be out of favor with the government as Hupan Academy’s illicit use of “university” in its Chinese name had managed to escape the notice of authorities for years until this week.

What’s the story?

In a response to the video, the 6-year-old Hupan Academy vowed to clear up the issue of its name. “Since its establishment, Hupan has been a private institution registered with the Civil Affairs Department and not listed as an academic education institution. In order to avoid any misunderstanding, we have renamed it the Zhejiang Hupan Entrepreneurship Research Center, it said.

Founded in 2015, Hupan Academy was set up with the backing of Alibaba to teach established business bigwigs how to run their companies more sustainably.

Alibaba founder Jack Ma noted that the school valued its own sustainability as well. “We want Hupan to run for 300 years,” Ma, the school’s founding president, said when welcoming the first students.

In March, the private school failed to post commencement dates for its spring student intake, leading commenters to wonder if the school had suspended operations amid a crackdown on internet platforms that fined Alibaba of 18.2 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) for antitrust violations.

According to the Chinese media website Caijing, other education and training institutions have also recently removed the word “university” from their names, including several with well-known corporate backers. Hundun University has been renamed Hundun Academy, Dedao University has been renamed Dedao Institute of Advanced Studies, and Tencent-supported Qingteng University is now known simply as Qingteng.

Meituan University and Oppo University, which are still under construction, have so far retained their names.

What are people saying online?

Social media users saw the story of the Hupan Academy’s name change as a chance to poke fun at what they perceived to be a private club for the wealthy. One much-lauded comment said that the institution’s purpose must be to teach people “how to make their families rich forever, across generations.”

Another comment reminded readers that Hupan Academy was never a university in the first place. “It must have been magic that this institution was able to obtain university status when others have to go through a strict approval process.”

“I had thought Hupan Academy was even better than 211 and 985 schools,” one seemingly misled reader wrote, referring to the names of the grants that the government gives to China’s top academic institutions. “But it turns out that it’s not even a university at all.”

Many Weibo users took a crack at renaming the place, with “Lakeside Club”, “Capitalist Club” and “996 Wealth Research and Promotion Center” — a reference to the Ma-approved punishing work culture at China’s tech firms — coming out on top.

And what should students spend their time studying at such an institution? Maybe, “how to capture a market, create a monopoly, influence government policy, and reorganize Chinese data,” one commenter said.

Contact report Heather Mowbray (heathermowbray@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)

Related: Jack Ma’s Fortune Jumps $2 Billion After Record Alibaba Fine

What’s trending?

The hashtag #Ebike-Caught-Fire-Multiple-People-Burned# has received 150 million views and 17,000 comments on Weibo since video footage of a blaze in an apartment building’s elevator began trending online Tuesday. Several victims are currently in hospital, two with life-threatening burns.

What’s the story?

On May 10 in Chengdu, capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan, an e-bike battery burst into flames as the vehicle was being brought down from an apartment. Closed circuit video footage released online shows three men, one woman and one infant were in the elevator. Within seconds, the whole elevator was alight and the occupants reportedly suffered burns to much of their bodies. Investigations into the cause of the fire are underway.

E-bike battery explosions are common causes of household fires in China as they are often charged overnight in homes or the hallways of apartment buildings. China has around 300 million two-wheeled electric vehicles, two-thirds of which will need to be replaced by 2024 to meet new safety standards implemented in 2019, Dongwu Securities estimated.

What are people saying online?

One Weibo user speculated the building’s manager had turned a blind eye to the common practice of charging bikes at home. “I blame the compound managers. They probably don’t pay their security guards enough to care who brings what inside.”

“Some people party every day but are not willing to park their e-bike in the parking lot, hauling it up and down in the elevator every day as if it were a golden egg. Do I owe you from a past life?” wrote an angry Weibo user on Wednesday.

Another agreed that e-bikes should not be charged at home. “Battery-powered bikes should never be indoors. Someone who charges their bike in an apartment building may get away with it, or if they’re unlucky they may wipe out an entire family.”

Another reader suggested the problem was with the technology, not the rider. “It seems everyone is blaming the scooter drivers, but why not look at whether the batteries are defective? As with exploding Samsung phones, is it the people or the gadgets we should be worrying about?”

One person claiming to be a former battery producer explained how battery fires are particularly dangerous. “My boss never drove electric vehicles. When a battery burns, the firefighter is powerless. It will keep reigniting, so they can only wait patiently for it to burn out completely.”

Related: Chinese Scooter-Maker Riding High as Profits Surge on U.S. Market Growth

What’s trending?

#副处长送外卖12小时赚41元#

The hashtag Deputy-Director-Earns-41-Yuan-For-12-Hours-Work-As-Delivery-Driver was trending on Thursday, with 500 million views and 34,000 comments.

Beijing Satellite TV Wednesday reported on the experience of official Wang Lin, as he attempted to reach his goal of earning 100 yuan ($15.5) in a day on the road as a food-delivery driver in the run-up to the Labor Day holidays. Wang, a deputy director at Beijing’s Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security, made less than half his expected income after 12 hours on the job, saying the experience left him feeling “humiliated”. Wang said to camera, “This money is just too hard to earn,” as he sat exhausted on the curb as his shift ended at 9 p.m.

What’s the story?

Images from the video posted on the Weibo account of local paper The Beijing News listed the government human resources expert’s impossible deadlines. For one delivery, Wang was meant to arrive in 14 minutes, but his Satnav told him it would take 24 minutes, leaving the food cold. Another trip took the temporary driver an hour but netted him just 6.6 yuan, after he was fined 60% for taking too long.

In response to a video posted by Beijing Satellite TV on Wednesday, takeout delivery services Ele.me and Meituan Dianping said they will no longer fine drivers for delayed deliveries, and have updated their apps to reflect the change.

Nanjing Daily News posted a positive social media message under the Beijing News story, saying that officials should experience ordinary people’s lives before making policies on their behalf, as they could “hardly understand the risks people take if they just sit in the office.” The post added, “We hope others follow the deputy director’s praiseworthy example.”

What are people saying online?

Pointing the finger at the delivery services, one comment said, “The platform deducts 60% as a fine, but the money doesn’t go to the client, so where does it go?”

But some social media commenters appear to have had enough of such pitiful stories. “Shaming consumers is one thing, but our legal rights should also be guaranteed. Late or wrong delivery is understandable, but haven’t there been some instances of attacks on female consumers? Delivery staff should have at least basic credentials to get the job.” Another wrote in a similar vein, “Delivery service is hard, and delivery time should be relaxed, but late delivery shouldn’t be cost-free. If there’s no penalty, the customer will suffer.”

One Weibo user disagreed in a popular comment, “Bad drivers are a minority. Most are hardworking and deserve our respect.”

Regarding the official’s action, one reader commented, “Only if you came from the masses and are in touch with the masses, can you uncover problems.” And another said, “If I knew it was the deputy director, I would have taken a selfie with him.”

Related: China Probes Meituan in Expanded Antitrust Crackdown

What’s trending?

#特斯拉晒奶茶是失败公关吗#

The fallout from last week’s Shanghai Auto Show protest continued as Tesla issued a statement on social media offering apologies to its drivers and thanking them for their support for the electric-vehicle maker’s staff in China. The Tesla China post showed photos of gifts such as bubble tea and desserts that salesroom staff had received, saying the gestures of support “moved us to tears.” Still, some online commenters caught a whiff of a poorly executed PR stunt in the story,

What’s the story?

Late Monday, Tesla posted a statement saying, “when the pressure was greatest, we felt the care and support of our drivers,” explaining that its dealerships across the country had received symbols of support including bubble tea, desserts, and heartwarming words from fans, that made their troubles “disappear.”

Tesla praised its staff for answering peoples’ queries both day and night during the PR crisis, saying that “the world’s transition to sustainable energy is a marathon that “relies on the support of drivers and the values we share.”

What are people saying online?

For Tesla, this month’s PR storm has seen the company forced to drop its quiet approach to Chinese social media, which one popular comment under the post addressed. “Tesla, don’t do this! Bring back your dark horse persona. Speaking up never does anyone any good.”

Some commenters empathized with Tesla drivers. “I have one request — find out the truth. If Tesla has no problems, then sue the gossipers. They are not only tarnishing the name of Tesla, but also bringing Tesla drivers into disrepute.”

Some blamed Tesla’s competitors for its PR problems, saying that the other companies should focus their attention on their own products. “Now the data is out, and it shows that the brakes were not faulty and in fact they saved the driver’s life. Now Zhang (the protester) claims her data privacy has been breached. Who is pulling strings behind the scenes? Put your money in your product rather than into shady operations!”

One Weibo user remarked on how anti-Tesla sentiment snowballed. “Anyone with even a little brain could see that the protester was a troubled person, but crowd mentality leads people to accuse the rich and powerful of making them into fools.”

Tesla employees took to Weibo to back their employer with comments, including: “We will do our best to change, and we will remember everyone’s encouragement.”

Other social media users did not buy it, saying that “Tesla evaded the problem and wrote a letter of praise to itself,” in a “model of a bad PR campaign.”

One critic questioned if the receipts for the gift shown in the post were really from Tesla owners: “The receipts say things like ‘less sugar, regular, three-quarters sugar…’ These ‘fans’ are really close to their Tesla sales people.”

Related: Tesla Coughs Up Crash Data to Auto Show Protestor

What’s trending?

#北京五一发放45亿消费大礼包#

A government program to shower consumers in China’s capital with coupons to spend during the upcoming Labor Day holiday ended up sparking a litany of complaints online about how little time off workers get these days.

According to a state media post on Weibo Monday, the Beijing government will issue 4.5 billion yuan ($693.4 million) worth of coupons to stimulate consumer spending starting with the forthcoming Labor Day holiday. The video posted by CCTV has been forwarded 40,000 times and has received thousands of comments.

The “2021 Beijing Consumer Season” will begin in April 28, according to an announcement by Beijing's Bureau of Commerce and Bureau of Culture and Tourism, as reported in the video. The Labor Day holiday period will see an initial distribution of cash coupons, discount coupons and free goods coupons to consumers in Beijing worth billions of yuan. Last May, as China reeled from an economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus, local governments issued spending vouchers that received a mixed reception.

What’s the story?

The stimulus program aims to invigorate all aspects of the consumer economy. E-commerce and livestreaming platforms, stores and financial institutions will reportedly issue 10 billion yuan in subsidies in the run up to the national holiday that starts May 1 to encourage people to “buy, buy, buy,” according to the promotional material. Supermarkets, restaurants, delivery services and department stores are all included in the program, as are parks and local scenic areas. Companies are encouraged to participate, with appliance sellers JD.com, Suning.com, Gome and Dazhong planning to offer discounts on electronics.

What are people saying online?

One popular commenter on the coupon giveaway wondered how the coupons could be obtained and questioned where the billions will actually go.

But much of the online criticism focused not on the coupons but on the time people were given to spend them.

National holidays in China involve employees having to work weekend days in lieu of weekdays so as to secure a longer holiday periods. Beijingers are currently in the middle of a six-day work week that began on Sunday, and the hashtag “reform the holiday system” has been trending on social media site Weibo over the past three days.

“Messing with vacation dates and then shamelessly engaging in sales promotions. Again, just attacking the regular people!” one comment read.

The most popular comments under CCTV’s stimulus video suggest that the incentive is somewhat misconceived. The city’s workers would much rather keep their weekends and have more days free than hunt down the state-supported discount coupons.

“In order to stimulate the economy, why make the long vacations shorter and make people work weekends in compensation? Some have to work 12 days in the row just to take a decent holiday,” said one representative comment about the video.

“With ‘996 work culture’ and ‘007 overtime,’ how can young Chinese people stomach more meddling in their vacations?” asked one commenter, referencing the shorthand for the schedules that require employees to work far in excess of 40 hours a week.

In reference to Russia’s holiday schedule, which gives workers an entire week off for Labor Day without requiring people to work weekends, one Chinese commenter asked, “Why can’t we just have holidays like other countries, without all this meddling?”

Related: Livestreaming Hawkers Fall Into Beijing’s Crosshairs

What’s trending?

#视频博主炫富被批后纷纷道歉删视频#

Spending 75,000 yuan ($11,500) for one night in a presidential suite, or spending 1.9 million yuan on the traditional month’s recuperation after giving birth. Just two examples of the expenditure some Chinese online celebrities are being criticized for promoting by video in a report released on Saturday by state newspaper People’s Daily and broadcaster Xinhua News Agency. The hashtag #Vloggers-Flaunting-Wealth-Apologize-And-Delete-Videos-After-Criticism has been viewed 160 million times and received over 11 thousand responses on the Chinese social media platform Weibo.

What’s the story?

One popular vlogger called Big Logo, whose latest video on Weibo shows him ordering seafood worth 4,000 yuan in Sanya on the southernmost island of Hainan, was used as an example of viral videos that “flaunt wealth” spending money on goods and services most people in China can only dream of. “Wealth-flaunting vloggers” were accused by state media of blindly chasing [social media] traffic and having a corrupting influence on society. The criticism can be viewed as part of a larger campaign by the government that appears to ebb and flow in the country as it grapples with the challenges of changing values that seem to accompany development and growing consumerism.

Videos categorized as 炫富or wealth-flaunting have become extremely popular on short video platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou, as well as social media platform Weibo, giving viewers a glimpse of a lifestyle far beyond most peoples’ means. Since the media’s criticism of excessive consumerism this weekend, social media platforms have been full of apologetic young online celebrities, and many videos showing examples of excessive consumption have been taken down. Videos on one of Big Logo’s short video channels reportedly carry the warning, “please consume rationally and establish a healthy consumption outlook.”

Big Logo responded to the matter saying, “the videos mentioned were already taken down last year, and future vlog content will be adjusted and change course.”

What are people saying online?

Many comments on the story appear to hark back to simpler times, with one saying “Mass broadcast of this kind of video will result in a society full of dissatisfied people.”

Another social media user asks what harm is there in observing other people’s out-of-reach lifestyles, with “So now ordinary people don’t even get the chance to look?”

One commenter points out that the wealth gap was not created by vloggers, only reflected by them, writing “Why try to fix things by attacking the little people? What is it about their freedom, social desires, and values that can be changed by looking to the vloggers?”

Related: In Depth: Can China Overtake U.S. to Become World’s Top Consumer?

What’s trending?

#山寨叶圣陶杯比赛为何能连办31届#

#How-fake-Ye-Shengtao-Cup-was-held-31-times

Parents and teenagers in Beijing have become victims of a phony literary prize that preys on a need to boost kids’ college applications with extra-curricular activities. Parents recently discovered that the Beijing division of the “Ye Shengtao Cup” was not affiliated with the prestigious national competition, but was organized by a local company.

This came as a particular disappointment as parents had been forking out cash to ensure their kids would win a prize, with the ersatz competition charging 15,000 yuan ($2,300) for first prize and 12,000 yuan for second prize

What’s the story?

Students who were introduced to the fake Ye Shengtao Cup by several training schools were made to believe they were participating in a national middle school composition competition authorized by the Ministry of Education.

An investigation by state broadcaster CCTV found that the parents of participants had been given the chance to pay for prizes or better scores by the training schools in which their children were enrolled or registered.

However, the after-school centers were working not with the national competition, but with Beijing Shengtao Wenrun Education and Culture Co. Ltd. The award-giver appears to have been in cahoots with the training schools since 2016. The investigation found that other training schools were also in the business of guaranteeing awards for cash (保奖), suggesting that demand for resume-enhancing prizes was strong.

The organizers of the official prize, currently in its 18th annual edition, have published a statement on their website saying that “the Ye Shengtao Cup has no participation fee, nor does it conduct paid training classes or marketing activities.”

Chinese intellectual Ye Shengtao, after whom the prize was named, founded the Association for Literary Studies in 1921, later serving as a vice minister of culture.

What are people saying online?

Corroborating the notion that demand remains high for manufactured awards, one popular comment read, “It’s not just literature. English and other subjects also have these competitions, and they are all over the country too.”

Although the con of the “money prize” was called out, there was also general ridicule of the investigation on Weibo. Many people joked that they had received the prize, dragging their parents and themselves into socially mediated disrepute. “I suddenly realized that in middle school I took part in the official cup and was given national first prize.” Another wrote, “I took part, and I think my whole class got an award.”

Seeking sympathy, a former student used their prize-winning writing skills to reveal that, “The only prize I received in middle school was third prize in the Ye Shengtao Cup, and now they say it’s fake.”

Related: China Tightens Supervision of After-School Tutoring Sector