How it started vs. how it's going: the rise (and fall?) of Zhengzhou’s viral yè qí (夜骑) trend: thousands of students cycling 40+ miles to Kaifeng overnight, capturing the spirit of China's youth and sparking national conversations about the impact of these kind of movements. While media reports suggest this trend's been simmering since summer, there’s little digital evidence to support that. The movement seemed to erupt suddenly in early November (more on this in my article). By Nov 2-3, group rides were everywhere, fueling a social media frenzy.

Guess I didn't realize just how many juicy stories there are about 86-yr-old Fan Zeng (范曾, 1938), master of traditional Chinese calligraphy & painting. Recent news that he married a 36-yr-old woman - 50 years his junior - unleashed a flood of stories about him on social media. The bride is Xu Meng (1988), a Beijing television host and former model, who was gifted a Ferrari and 25,000 USD handbag by Fan before they tied the knot. She's actually his FOURTH wife.

Panda propaganda is the best kind of propaganda 😅 Chinese state media are turning panda YY's return to China from Memphis Zoo into a big media show. Many fans have been anticipating her return for months already. YY is was closely followed and monitored during her US-China trip.

It doesnt look like this...

Been watching way too many weibo videos today so I'm just gonna put a few random ones here that have no news value at all and are completely unrelated to each other.

Starting with this guy who shows that you don't need to be able to sing in order to deliver a 👍 performance This traffic police was like, oh you wanna break the rules and jump the fence? I'll let you jump the fence alright.

Hello, the pandemic is over. One of the cities in China that is going absolutely viral for its local party and bbq culture right now is Zibo, a former industrial town that just saw a 800% increase in bookings. whatsonweibo.com/the-hottest-pl… How did this relatively non-famous town suddenly become an online hit?! Different reasons, but one is that it quarantined students from Shandong during zero Covid, treated them well, and they came back to celebrate Zibo and a new spring. It snowballed from there.

The annual Spring Festival Gala is about to start! This year, there's an official 3D-designed mascot, Tu Yuanyuan. It must be one of the few bunnies that actually didn't get roasted for being ugly. Follow the #SpringFestivalGala liveblog here: whatsonweibo.com/watching-chunw… Like the party where nobody told you the dress code. Wearing blue while everyone showed up in red.

After the design of the China Post zodiac rabbit stamp caused controversy on social media, there's a second rabbit roast. This time, it concerns a huge rabbit lantern that appeared at Sanxia Square in Chongqing. The rabbit is different from a more standard and cute cartoon rabbit, as it has human-like eyes and eyebrows and a somewhat serious expression on its face. Its body has festive orange, green, and yellow colors. Following the controversy, they decided to get rid of it.

Various trending videos today showing how Chinese passengers received a warm welcome in Thailand and almost felt like celebrities. Tourists don't need a covid test and no vaccination proof. That's a huge difference compared to other countries that have implemented travel restrictions for passengers coming from China.

China Post just launched its annual zodiac stamps ahead of Spring Festival, and this year's blue rabbit stamp caused quite the commotion as many think it looks like a rabbit from hell. Taobao also initiated a ceremony to launch the stamps where the blue rabbit appeared as an actual mascot costume. It did not help.

It's time for the annual wrap-up for @WhatsOnWeibo: a look-back at the biggest Chinese social media trends of 2022 from A to Z (literally). Some called 2022 <'2020 too'> because the lockdowns brought back memories of Wuhan, but how differently the year ended. An A-Z thread 🧵👇 A is for the A4 Protests, aka Blank Paper Protests, the demonstrations against China's Zero Covid policy following that devastating Urumqi fire on 11.24. Protesters used white papers to say everything that couldn't be said. Read: whatsonweibo.com/tag/11-24-unre…

https://twitter.com/manyapan/status/1596520159392530432?s=20&t=g-hcvg_3eit-ogUxrChpVA

Word of the week: zhèngzhì chūguì 政治出柜, "political coming out."

There've been online discussions about people, mostly in WeChat groups, 'coming out' about their political orientation/views in light of recent developments in China (the protests and zero Covid discussions). Many support 'politically coming out', even though it can ruin WeChat friend groups. "How to filter your friends? By coming out and by coming out politically," one Weibo user said: "I don't need many friends who don't share the same principles."

Happening on Twitter at the moment at a time of unrest/protests taking place in various places across China. When trying to find the latest posts on situations in various places (in Chinese), you get endless streams of nonsense ads preventing quick access to actual information. Fyi many pointed out that this is not new & has been around for longer, others such as @dong_mengyu pointed out that the frequency has changed / became more extreme during these past days. Let's check back later (unless @twitter does something about it).👇

https://twitter.com/dong_mengyu/status/1596783732156862464?t=ueuQyKp57vpA7SpQWyXruQ&s=19

Videos circulating on social media show riots and unrest at Zhengzhou Foxconn, where workers are fed up working during a mismanaged Covid outbreak and feel cheated by the company. As the topic is restricted on Weibo, some wonder if they were shooting a movie there.. More videos posted in the context of Foxconn unrest in Zhengzhou also show some people being beaten and some who are injured.

Some scenes from Chengdu before city-wide lockdown. This lady apparently ran to the supermarket straight from the hairdressers' place. Priorities.

The past 48 hours have been incredibly intense for those in Chongqing's Beibei District, where thousands of people joined the fight against the wildfires on Thursday. To contain the forest fire, it was about "fighting the fire with fire" (以火灭火), a sometimes risky tactic that turned out to be decisive in stopping further spread of the fire at Mt Jinyun.

China's military drills around Taiwan are a Chinese social media 'spectacle', besides raw footage there are also edited videos with cinematic music flying all around Weibo. Some by state media, also many by netizens. Official video by state broadcaster CCTV

Everyone is talking about an outburst of violence against female customers at a Tangshan BBQ restaurant that happened on Friday morning. This moment shows how one of the guys involved smashes this woman, seemingly only realizing moments later it is his own partner. Another moment during this messy fight capturing the attention of netizens: this lady tries to help out as she sees another woman being kicked and beaten, but her partner holds her back and walks away.

Top trending on Weibo today: "Why Can't People Infected with Covid-19 Isolate at Home?" (新冠感染者为什么不能居家隔离). The hashtag, initiated by Chinese media, was meant to explain why mandatory centralized isolation really is the best. Of 3405 comments, only 9 were viewable. It's not so much that many people oppose centralized quarantine, it's just that the situations at many Shanghai facilities are so bad: lack of supplies, lack of staff, lack of hygiene. These photos were posted on Weibo by a Shanghai resident quarantined in Pudong today.

The situation is Shanghai is difficult and messy, for those at quarantine sites, and for those at home. So many videos circulating online these days. This video was posted on Weibo to show the chaotic situation a quarantine location in Pudong. At the same time, people required to go out to get tested complain that 2-metre social distancing rules are not being respected at all, and they fear getting covid while getting tested for covid under these conditions.

Videos surfacing on Chinese social media today show chaotic scenes from the Nanhui covid19 quarantine location, where people were fighting over resources. On social media, people who have family at the site express concerns that people are left to fight for supplies (water, food, blankets) without any proper supervision.

This maskless, smoking guy in Shanghai seemed to be on a mission for trouble amidst epidemic panic and he ended up going viral on Chinese social media today. Can't post full video here due to length but the guy - who claimed not to be aware of Shanghai lockdown 🙄 - ends up being taken away. He seemed determined not to be stopped but couldn't win this one.