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Beer Bottle Bomb: Explosion at Shanghai Pudong Airport

A small explosion at Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport on Sunday afternoon left four people injured. The explosion reportedly was caused by a man who threw a beer bottle containing explosive materials, after which he stabbed himself in the neck.

Manya Koetse

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https://youtu.be/a7NzWZSaVdo

A small explosion at Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport on Sunday afternoon left four people injured. The explosion reportedly was caused by a man who threw a beer bottle containing explosive materials, after which he stabbed himself in the neck.

On Sunday afternoon at 14:20, an explosion at Shanghai’s Pudong International airport (terminal 2) left four people injured, including the man who caused the blast. He is currently in critical condition.

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News of the explosion traveled fast on Chinese social media, where WeChat and Weibo users were quick to share videos and any available information. Shanghai Pudong Airport is China’s second-busiest international airport.

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Shanghai Airport Authority also used social media to inform netizens about the blast immediately after it occured. On their official Weibo account, they stated the explosion was suspected to be caused by a homemade explosive device.

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A surveillance video of the explosion released by CCTV was also shared on Weibo through video platform Miaopai.

As reported by the Straits Time, one passenger told Sina News that she heard a man yelling “No!” and “Ah!” just before the blast took place.

Chinese media later reported that one of the injured sustained a severe neck injury, that was suggested to be self-induced.

At the beginning of the evening, Shanghai Police released a statement on Weibo, saying that the Shanghai Pudong blast was caused by a man carrying a beer bottle containing explosive materials. After the man threw the beer bottle, he reportedly stabbed himself in the neck and fell to the ground.

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Shanghai News also released a picture of the suspect that clearly shows his neck injury.

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According to Weibo users currently at the Shanghai airport, there is no more tumult there and flights have been taking off without delays. According to City Weekend, security at the airport has now been increased, with checks and bag inspection for anyone entering the airport.

On social media, commotion about the blast has not ended yet – the Shanghai explosion was still one of the top trending topics on Sina Weibo by Sunday evening. Many netizens are questioning the effectiveness of Shanghai airport security, and wonder why the man was able to carry explosive materials inside the terminal.

– By Manya Koetse

©2016 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com

Manya Koetse is the founder and editor-in-chief of whatsonweibo.com. She is a writer, public speaker, and researcher (Sinologist, MPhil) on social trends, digital developments, and new media in an ever-changing China, with a focus on Chinese society, pop culture, and gender issues. She shares her love for hotpot on hotpotambassador.com. Contact at manya@whatsonweibo.com, or follow on Twitter.

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China Local News

“Brainless” Local Policy to Boost Birthrates: Bonus Points for Kids from Bigger Families

Having a second or third baby? Zhezhou County will give you bonus points for that.

Zilan Qian

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As Chinese experts and local authorities across the country are thinking of new ways to encourage couples to have more children in light of China’s dropping birth rates, this latest measure announced by Shanxi’s Zhezhou County has sparked controversy.

Dropping birth rates have been a major concern for Chinese authorities for years now, and in light of the recent Two Sessions and its aftermath, it has become a bigger topic of discussion on Chinese social media.

To encourage young people to marry and have more children, various initiatives have been suggested or implemented, with a particular focus on the role education plays in this matter.

One recent proposal from an expert has been to shorten the education period as a means to promote China’s birth rates. This includes the idea of eliminating the middle school entrance exam to reduce two years of elementary and middle school education to allow young people to start their post-graduate life at an earlier age.

Earlier this month, another measure that also focuses on education in the context of boosting birth rates sparked heated debates on Weibo.

The measure was introduced by the local government of Zezhou County, a county in the southeast of Shanxi province. The idea entails that families of two children or more will receive benefits in education; their second or third child would get ten additional points in their senior high school exams (zhongkao 中考).

The related hashtag, titled “Second or Third Children from Shanxi’s Zezhou County Will Receive an Additional 10 points in the Senior High School Entrance Exam” (#山西泽州二三孩中考将加10分#) received over 120 million views in less than two days.

On Chinese social media, most netizens responded to this proposed measure with indignation, arguing that it violates the basic principle of exam equality.

In response, one popular legal blogger on Weibo called ‘Lawyer Zhuang Zhiming’ (@庄志明律师) published an article titled: “Shanxi’s Zezhou County Giving Families with Two/Three Kids Extra Zhongkao Points – How Did Such a Brainless Policy Come About?” (“山西泽州二、三孩家庭中考加分,如此弱智政策是怎么出台的?”)

In the article, the author vehemently criticized the policy, stating that it goes against the basic spirit of education equality and describing it as a “devilish measure against the times” (“逆时代的魔鬼之操作”).

In addition to being unfair to one-child families, the author argues that the policy also treats the first child of two or three children families unequally since they cannot receive the extra bonus points while their younger siblings can.

Many users on Weibo also agree with this argument, stating that the policy creates a situation where the first-born child is “inherently placed at a disadvantage,” “starting one step behind the others.”

The cover of the official notice from the Zezhou county government regarding their measurements for promoting the balanced development of population. Image from Sina Weibo’s post.

Other netizens also criticized this policy, viewing it as an extreme family planning policy. One Weibo post under the hashtag suggests that this policy is similar to measures taken during the one-child policy era and creates inequality to compel people to realize the state’s birth rate goals.

Another Weibo user stated: “When we were young, our parents were fined for having multiple children, while we watched families with one child or two daughters receive bonus points. Now that we’ve grown up and can’t afford to have more children, we’re watching those with two or three children receive bonus points.”

Some also expressed anger and frustration in the comments sections, saying these kinds of policies make them feel pressured to have children and actually makes them feel like not having kids altogether.

“Just don’t have babies at all,” one person wrote, while another comment said: “If we would treat humans as actual humans, we could avoid strange occurrences like this.”

In mid-March, Sina News reported that the local government responded that the policy is not active yet and is being implemented in “one or two years.”

In addition to the extra points for the senior high school entrance exam, the local authorities have come up with other measures that benefit families with two or three children, including exemption from outpatient registration fees in the county’s public hospitals, an additional sixty days of maternity leave for the third child, 50% off (second child) or no fees (third child) for county public kindergartens, and free after-school childcare services.

Although these local initiatives have drawn a lot of criticism, some people also applaud them.

Phoenix Weekly‘s Weibo account posted about all the measures taken by the local government, and one person replied: “This is the most effective policy I have seen so far. If Shanghai were to implement such measures, the birth rate would increase very quickly.”

Other netizens also suggested that the policy may not be as harmful as some claim it is. In response to concerns about the policy’s impact on education equality, some point out that the extra points are only added if students take the zhongkao for high schools located within the county. They, therefore, suggest the measure could actually decrease competition for urban schools, since there will be no bonus points for those entrance exams.

Another Weibo user trivialized the policy’s impact by suggesting that “there are no good high schools in the county, so [the policy] won’t have much of an influence [on education equality] at all.”

While the policy’s scope is limited to the county level and may not significantly affect the lives of most individuals, most commenters in these online discussions still see it as a challenge to the fundamental values of equality, merit-based education, and individual autonomy over family planning.

Many people doubt the effectiveness of manipulating the education system to boost birth rates and argue that addressing the broader socio-economic context is the only viable solution: “The government’s priority should be to ensure high-quality basic services for children and to maintain these standards. When people feel happy, they may be more willing to have children. Improving the quality of child-rearing and education is more crucial than increasing the quantity of children.”

By Zilan Qian

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China Local News

Netizens Puzzled after Balloon in Shijiazhuang Sky Creates Flight Disruptions

Lots of questions remain after news went trending that the airspace above Shijiazhuang airport was “being occupied.”

Manya Koetse

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The ‘unidentified flying object’ that occupied the controlled airspace above Shijiazhuang International Airport turned out to be a “balloon.” Although operations returned to normal, there is a sense of “balloon panic” on Chinese social media.

The city of Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province, became a trending topic on Chinese social media on Thursday, February 16, after news came out that there were irregularities in the arrivals and departure schedule at Shijiazhuang Airport due to certain activity in the controlled airspace.

Some flights were delayed, canceled, or rerouted on Thursday when the airspace above the Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport was reportedly “being occupied” (“空域被占用”/”空域用户占领”) from approximately 11:00 to 13:00 by an “unidentified flying object” (“不明飞行物”).

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC North China Regional Administration 民航华北局) stated that the object was confirmed to be a balloon.

Later on Thursday, it was announced that regular flight schedules were reinstated. But on social media, the questions remain.

Flying around Weibo are questions such as: What happened? What is going on? What kind of balloon? Does it have anything to do with the U.S.? What does it mean when “a user is occupying the sky” (“空域用户占领”, the wording used in official media)?

Some netizens just posted question marks in response to the news. “All the hot topics of today are just puzzling,” one person responded.

Some of the trending hashtags related to the Shijiazhuang balloon incident are “Balloon Found over Shijiazhuang” (#石家庄上空发现气球#), “CAAC North China Administration States They Discovered a Balloon”(#民航华北局称发现一个气球#), “Shijiazhuang Airport Confirms There Are Delays and Reroutes” (#石家庄机场确有延误和备降情况#), and “Shijiazhuang Temporary Air Control Resolved” (#石家庄临时空中管制已解除#).

“The balloon panic is leading to a lot of speculation, and the stock index dropped in response to the uncertainties,” one netizen said, referring to news that the domestic stock prices saw a drop on Thursday.

Balloons have been a hot topic on Chinese social media ever since early February, when the Pentagon announced it had detected an alleged “Chinese spy balloon” over Montana. Although Chinese authorities claimed it was a civilian weather balloon that went the wrong way due to strong winds, the balloon was shot from the sky on February 4.

Afterward until February 12, three more “unidentified objects” were shot from the sky by U.S. military.

Meanwhile, Chinese officials claimed the American response was hyped and was purposely meant to create an anti-Chinese narrative. In one interview, China’s ambassador to France said that China previously also found American balloons in their airspace, but that it was dealt with in a low key way (#中国低调处理境内上空发现美国气球#).

The hashtag “Shijiazhuang” received 400 million views on Weibo today. The last time the city received so much nationwide attention was three months ago, when Shijiazhuang was among the first places in the country to drastically loosen its Covid measures.

Chinese political commentator Hu Xijin also responded to the Shijiazhuang balloon incident on Thursday, arguing that it is the task of the officials dealing with such incidents to do their best to inform the public in order to avoid raising concerns when there is no follow-up, which also happened earlier this week then authorities claimed to have seen an unidentified object flying above waters near one of its naval bases in Shandong.

For more articles about the balloon incident, check here.

By Manya Koetse 


 

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