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· Bryan Ke
Elon Musk’s Chinese doppelgänger ‘Yi Long Musk’ gets banned on Douyin
Elon Musk’s viral doppelgänger, affectionately known online as “Yi Long Musk,” has reportedly been banned from Chinese social media. The Douyin account of the Chinese social media star, whose true identity remains shrouded in mystery, has been wiped clean of content, according…
· Bryan Ke
Douyin users criticize ‘baiting crowd’ for egging on Chinese influencer’s livestream suicide
A Douyin influencer who livestreamed her suicide has prompted other users to question the social media platform’s prevention efforts and the “baiting crowd” phenomenon on China’s version of TikTok. What happened: Luo Xiao Maomao, 25, posted a video on Douyin on the afternoon of…
· Bryan Ke
Douyin, the Chinese TikTok, limits its younger users to 40 minutes a day
On Saturday, Douyin parent company Bytedance announced they would be limiting access to the app for children to 40 minutes a day, in line with the Chinese government’s push to curb “internet addiction” among its youth. Certain limitations: ByteDance’s new control called “youth…
· Bryan Ke
Chinese amputee ‘Iron Leg Man’ shares his hi-tech prosthetic leg design online so others can use it
Liang Kaiyu, 30, created his own prosthetic leg and then modified it by adding LED lights, shock absorbers and a self-charging interface. “It’s 2022, and I can finally wear an artificial leg that I made myself. Although it looks a bit ugly, it is unique and meaningful to me,”…
· Rebecca Moon
Chinese woman sells goodnight texts for 15 cents a message after feeling lonely and isolated
A Chinese woman has been selling goodnight texts for 15 cents a message over the past 10 years. Wong Biying, 35, started her business in 2012 and opened a shop on the Chinese online shopping platform Taobao called “A person selling a good night in a deserted land.” She has since…
· Ryan General
Elon Musk wants to meet his Chinese doppelganger ‘Yi Long Musk’ (‘if he is real’)
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he is willing to meet his purported Chinese doppelganger if he really does exist. Dubbed by netizens as “Yi Long Musk,” the alleged lookalike made headlines last year after a video of him went viral on Douyin. As news of Musk’s Twitter takeover plans…
· Bryan Ke
Hong Kong star Andy Lau goes viral for doing housework
Hong Kong actor, singer-songwriter and film producer Andy Lau garnered millions of views on Chinese social media after posting a video of himself cleaning his home. His now-viral video gained 3.6 million likes and over 1 million comments in just two days. The 30-second video,…
· Rebecca Moon
Chinese woman dresses up as an elderly person so her grandfather, 96, will recognize her in the afterlife
A Chinese woman wore makeup and clothes to make herself look older, so her 96-year-old grandfather will recognize her as an elderly woman when they meet in the afterlife. Liang Tingting, 27, was raised by her grandparents in Zhangjiang of southern China’s Guangdong Province…
· Rebecca Moon
Chinese groom has to watch his own wedding through livestream after venue bars him over ‘outdated’ COVID test
A Chinese groom watched his wedding on a WeChat livestream after he and other guests were told to wait outside the venue after their COVID-19 tests were deemed invalid after a change in time requirements. The groom, surnamed Deng, 28, said that he was “about to cry” until his…
· Ryan General
Viral clip shows man apparently stopping Olympian Eileen Gu from leaving after a selfie in Beijing
A recent video shows a man seemingly trying to stop Olympic gold medalist Eileen Gu from leaving after they take a selfie together. The athlete was out exercising with her mother in Beijing when the stranger asked for a photo. The clip of their encounter, which has since gone…
· Carl Samson
YouTube suspends channel of Chinese vlogger who posts about his life in war-torn Ukraine
Wang Jixian, a 36-year-old Chinese programmer living in the Ukrainian city of Odesa, is known for posting videos of himself openly criticizing Russia. He said that YouTube suspended his account for a week in March after one of his videos supposedly violated its policy against…
· Bryan Ke
Video of 3-year-old boy using a stool to care for his dad, who is in a vegetative state, goes viral
A video of a son helping his father went viral on Chinese social media after the 3-year-old boy’s mother, Liu Na, posted it on Douyin on March 27. Liu said that while she was on her lunch break, she checked in on her husband Ding Yong, who has been in a vegetative state since…
· Bryan Ke
‘My mother gave birth to me, I owe it to her’: Chinese boy overcomes fear of pain to donate bone marrow
Cao Xuanyi, a 10-year-old boy from China's Anhui Province who “used to be particularly scared of pain,” volunteered to be his mother’s bone marrow donor. “Knowing it was to save his mother, he didn’t say a word,” the boy's father, Cao Song, said. The boy’s mother, Cao Meixia,…
· Rebecca Moon
Video of Chinese bride racing to meet her groom stuck in lockdown garners over 280 million views on Weibo
After her groom in China was stranded at home on his wedding day due to COVID-19 lockdown regulations, a bride in China rushed to meet him so the two could get married. A now viral video was posted to Weibo showing the hasty journey that the bride, Amanda Liu, made to meet her…
· Bryan Ke
‘We sympathize with the pain of the Ukrainian people’: Chinese history professors pen anti-war open letter
A group of professors from Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Macao published an open letter calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the war in Ukraine. A petition, signed by 121 alumni from top Chinese universities, also urged the Chinese government to honor…
· Bryan Ke
Chinese in Ukraine advised to not display China flags amid pro-Russia Chinese social media, news stories
Many Weibo, Douyin and WeChat users have been banned after posting “provocative comments” targeting Ukrainians. The social media platforms reminded their users to stay “objective and rational” and maintain a “clean and upright atmosphere.” Similar sentiments were echoed by…
· Ryan General
Alumni from China’s top universities demand more thorough investigation into chained woman in viral video
Last month, video footage of a woman chained inside a small shack drew immediate public outrage from Chinese netizens after it emerged on local video platform Douyin. According to local authorities, the woman had been diagnosed with a mental illness and was kept in the shack by…
· Rebecca Moon
Growing public outrage over video of chained woman in shed leads to investigation by Chinese authorities
In late January, a video of a Chinese woman with mental illness chained and locked inside a doorless shed by her husband went viral. The video was taken by a Chinese vlogger who visited the Huankou village and found the woman in harrowing conditions. The mother of eight was seen…
· Michelle De Pacina
Video of a Chinese mother of 8 left chained in the winter cold sparks online outrage
Yang, a mentally ill mother of eight children who was chained around the neck and left in a doorless shed outside during the cold winter in Huankou village, was discovered by a Chinese vlogger. The vlogger’s video has since gone viral and sparked online outrage and public…
· Bryan Ke
China launches effort to ‘purify’ the internet ahead of Lunar New Year celebration, Winter Games
China’s internet watchdog has launched a “purification” campaign to “clean up” Chinese social media users’ “illegal” online content as Lunar New Year and the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing draw near. The country’s cybersecurity regulator, Cyberspace Administration of China…