Crime boss moonlights on Douyin, “Avengers” moves fan to tears, courier harasses customer, and a whistleblower is blacklisted—it’s Viral Week
Viral Week is our weekly round-up of the weekend’s trending memes, humor, rumor, gossip, and everything else Chinese netizens are chatting about.
This week, a crime boss keeps his personal and work life separate, while a courier oversteps boundaries, and a whistleblower proves no good deed goes unpunished. But first…
Avengers opens with vengeance
Avengers: Endgame broke both pre-sales and opening record in China, surpassing 600 million RMB (90 million USD) and 2.2 billion RMB (330.5 million USD), respectively. Meanwhile, a 21-year-old fan in Ningbo was reportedly sent to the hospital because she was crying uncontrollably and believed to be hyperventilating after watching the movie.
Complainer’s curse
Mr. Dou, the construction worker who exposed the poor quality of his safety helmet earlier this month, reported that he was blacklisted by construction companies afterwards (though he appears to have found a new job at the time of writing)
Tesla trouble
Tesla has had its fair share of problems in China—and a spontaneously combusting model vehicle in a Shanghai parking garage didn’t help
Scare package
The public is growing concerned about personal safety in China’s booming courier economy, after an employee of well-known courier firm Shunfeng was found to have sent harassing messages to a customer and opened her parcel, sharing photos of its contents on WeChat
Toddler driver
A 3-year old boy in Jinyun county, Zhejiang, drove an excavator for 15 minutes across two busy streets under the encouragement of his father, who was following on foot, before being stopped by passersby
Crime boss’ side hustle
A Douyin celebrity with 1.6 million followers, known for making inspirational videos, was revealed to be the boss of an organized crime ring that has been busted by police in Yunnan province
Five minutes on the lips
Cosmetics vendor Li Jiaqi, known as “Lipstick Top Man” on Douyin and Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book), recently sold 15,000 lipsticks in five minutes, beating Alibaba founder Jack Ma in a live-streamed competition
Goose? Duck!
A woman in Guizhou got into a scooter accident when she was hit by a escaped goose falling from a rooftop farm on a nearby apartment building.
TWOC‘s editors are a bilingual, international team that is always on the lookout for original and human-centered stories to share with our readers. We are dedicated to accuracy, objectivity, and looking at each of China's stories through the eyes of its participants. Get in touch through our About Us page if you have a story to pitch!
