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“Calling a Rat a Duck”: Jiangxi Students Discover Rat Head in Meal, School Insists It’s Duck (Updated)

Following the finding of a rat head in a cafeteria meal, this school maintains that it was actually a duck head, urging students not to discuss “rat head gate.”

Manya Koetse

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Updated June 18, 2023

A topic about a student finding a rodent head inside his school canteen meal received a staggering 310 million views on Weibo this Wednesday (#高校鼠头事件涉事窗口几乎没人去吃饭#).

The incident occurred some days ago in Nanchang at a school canteen of the Jiangxi Vocational Technical College of Industry Trade. A video showing what looks like a mouse or rat head in someone’s rice meal has been circulating on Chinese social media since.

When the person who found the rodent head in his meal complained to the catering staff, they insisted that it was not a rat head, but rather a duck head or neck. In the video, the person can be heard arguing, “This is a rat! It clearly has rat teeth, can’t you see?”

Duck head or duck neck are popular dishes in many parts of China. But it was not what the person ordered, and the unexpected bite also did not look like duck.

On June 3rd, the Jiangxi college debunked the “rat incident” rumors and stated that it was, in fact, a duck head. The following day, the local food supervision bureau also alleged that it was not a rat, but duck meat.

According to Henan Business Newspaper (河南商报), students at the school were reminded by staff not to discuss the incident on the internet (#学生透露高校禁止发布鼠头事件相关言论#).

Meanwhile, the official catering company contracted by the Jiangxi Vocational Technical College of Industry Trade issued a statement clarifying that they were not involved in the “rat head incident.” The incident occurred at a separate Chinese fast-food stall within the Qingshanhu campus (青山湖校区) canteen, which is not operated by Jinghe Food & Beverage (菁禾餐饮), which is the contracted company.

In what appears to be an effort to further stifle the inconvenient issue, they issued a warning, stating that individuals spreading rumors about their company would face consequences (#菁禾餐饮再次声明非鼠头事件承包方#).

According to students at the college, the involved stall has been running its business as usual since the incident happened. But the cafetaria has been more quiet as students are avoiding eating there. Many people choose to order takeout instead and have it delivered directly to their dormitory building.

Some netizens are diving deeper into this incident to prove that the meal actually did contain a rodent head and not duck. A Weibo blogger named Jianghu Lifuxiang (@江湖李傅相) posted a photo comparing the ‘foreign object’ in the meal to a rodent head.

Rodents will be rodents, not ducks. Image posted on Weibo.

The blogger writes:

The ‘is it a rat head or a duck neck’ incident (“鼠头or鸭脖”事件) has been fermenting online for several days now. But the most significant issue at hand is no longer about it being a rat or a duck, but about the school and the related departement treating the students and the public as fools.

Discovering a rat head while eating is not [even] the scariest part. What is truly frightening is that the public clearly sees a “rat head,” yet they insist on claiming it to be a “duck neck.” If it’s really a rat head, it would be better to calmly admit it. At most, this would be a food safety incident and one or two temporary workers might get sacked and a fine could be imposed, and that would be it.

The current situation is that the school confirms the foreign object [“异物”] to be a duck neck and makes the students to also confirm it’s a duck. Even the local food supervision leaders have come forward to testify that it is a duck neck.

The way that the school and the food supervision bureau have handled this matter is in complete opposition to the public and it is a provocation of social morality, completely inverting right and wrong and disregarding public trust in order to protect the “innocence” of one or two individuals. I wonder if these leaders are actually so stupid or if netizens are too naive.

One Weibo user posts an image of duck neck and duck head besides the image of the mouse head.

There is a famous Chinese idiom, zhǐ lù wéi mǎ 指鹿为马, that translates to “calling a deer a horse” (or calling a stag a horse) in English, meaning to misrepresent something. The phrase comes from a story about the corrupt eunuch and minister Zhao Gao (赵高) during the Qin Dynasty who brought a deer to the second emperor, presenting it as a “horse.” Fearful to disagree with him, many people followed him and also identified the animal as a horse. In light of this phrase, some are now changing the idiom to “calling a rat a duck” (zhǐ shǔ wéi yā 指鼠为鸭) instead.

Calling a rat a duck, posted by @法律指南.

One Weibo commenter jokingly wrote:

“Students: “It’s a rat”
Leadership: “It’s duck neck”
Students: “It’s a rat”
Leadership: “Graduation certificate.”
Student: “It’s duck neck.”

The duckrat, posted on Zhihu.

“Controlling public sentiment is difficult, and it requires some expertise,” some write, with others describing the entire affair as ‘simply bizzare.’

“You’re all so focused on the head,” another person wrote, “don’t you wanna know where the rest of it went?”

Update: On June 10, Jiangxi authorities announced that they have established an investigative task force to further look into the incident. Their findings will soon be released to the public (#江西就鸭脖事件成立联合调查组#).

Update 2: On June 17, an official report was released regarding the “June 1st Food Safety Incident.” After reviewing video footage, examining purchase records, and conducting related investigations, local authorities have determined that the “foreign object” found in the cafeteria meal more than two weeks ago was, in fact, a rodent’s head and not a duck neck.

Jiangxi Vocational Technical College is being held accountable for the incident, although the specific legal consequences have not been specified at this time.

The conclusion of the incident has not put an end to the online discussions; if anything, it has amplified them. There are now further inquiries as to why it took an entire research team to confirm what was already known to the public. People are also questioning why the school insisted that the mouse head was a duck’s neck and whether corruption played a role.

Most importantly, individuals want to know what happened to the rest of the rodent and whether everyone who ate at the cafeteria stall on June 1st unknowingly consumed rat meat.

By now, the entire incident has transcended the rat versus duck debate. It has become a symbol of bureaucratic inefficiency, power play, public deception, and the wastage of resources on senseless investigations.

Illustration of a rat wearing a red armband (for surveillance/inspection), shared via Chinese social media after the official statement on the rat head.

“It took them half a month to handle such a trivial matter. They attempted to silence and confuse. If they could brush it off, everything is fine. If not, they can feign ignorance,” wrote one Weibo user.

By Manya Koetse , with contributions by Miranda Barnes

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©2023 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 Brands, Marketing & Consumers

From Baijiu Latte to DIY Liquor Coffee: China’s Coffee Culture Takes a Shot at Coffee + Alcohol Fusion

The recent buzz surrounding the Luckin x Maotai collaboration shows that blending coffee + alcohol might just become the next major trend in Chinese coffee culture.

Manya Koetse

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China’s coffee culture is brewing up something new as it embraces the fusion of coffee and alcohol. This blossoming trend, currently a hot topic online thanks to the Luckin x Maotai collaboration, is sparking curiosity and discussions about its lasting impact on coffee culture in China.

Would you like a shot with that? Recently, a trend involving the fusion of alcohol and coffee seems to be taking off in China, blending established liquor brands with popular domestic coffee labels.

The concept of mixing alcohol with coffee is relatively new in China, where classics like Irish Coffee never achieved the same recognition as they did in Western countries.

But also, the way in which ‘coffee + alcohol’ is introduced to consumers is different, with brands such as 7-Eleven and Luckin promoting their ‘coffee + liquor shot’ or ‘alcohol lattes.’

As a tea drinking nation, coffee culture is not part of Chinese traditional culture. However, over the past decade, China has witnessed the remarkable growth of a distinct and immensely popular Chinese coffee culture. In this evolving landscape, companies and consumers are continuously finding innovative ways to incorporate coffee into daily city life.

Coffee in China is typically an out-of-home purchase, particularly favored by the middle class (Ferreira & Ferreira 2018, 785). It has become intrinsically linked with modern urban life in China, taking on new cultural meanings related to status, lifestyle, aesthetics, urban communities, and the acquisition of new tastes. Millennials and Gen Z are at the forefront of shaping China’s coffee culture.

The pursuit of unique flavors is a defining aspect of China’s coffee culture, with a strong emphasis on specialty coffee. In fact, Shanghai alone boasts over 7,000 independent coffee houses, surpassing coffee hubs like London or New York (Xu & Ng 2022, 2349). Chinese coffee shops are known for introducing innovative concepts such as fruit-infused coffee, spicy chili coffee, garlic coffee, and liquor-flavored coffees.

Rather than introducing coffee into China’s drinking culture, alcohol is now being integrated into China’s coffee culture, providing consumers with yet another way to enjoy their coffee and explore new flavor experiences.

 
7-Eleven Blending Coffee with Alcohol
 

At various 7-Eleven convenience stores in China, you can now purchase a shot of alcohol to go with your coffee. For just 5 yuan ($0.70), customers can add a shot of their preferred liquor, such as Havana or Malibu, to their take-away coffee. It’s also possible to add it to your soda.

7-Eleven DIY counter: adding a shot of Malibu to takeaway coffee. (Image via Xiaohongshu user 今天怎么还没睡).

While we first noticed this option at a Beijing 7-eleven somewhere during the summer of 2023, Radii and Phoenix News reported that the first DYI counter was piloted at a Beijing store in October of 2022.

The counter, that specifically promotes the coffee + alcohol combo, is meant to serve customers who would previously purchase their coffee and then separately buy a full-priced mini bottle of liquor for anywhere in between 20-40 yuan ($2.75-$5.50) for 50ml.

DIY liquor counter at 7-Eleven in Beijing, promoting its “coffee + shot of alcohol” option (Photo by What’s on Weibo).

In late 2022, 7-Eleven in Taiwan also promoted the liquor + coffee combo as it exclusively offered the Hennessy cognac x City Prima coffee “Liquor Latte Set.”

City Prima x Hennessy at 7-Eleven Taiwan (Image via tw.com).

 
Luckin x Maotai Collab: Introducing Baijiu Latte
 

While the trend of adding alcohol to coffee seems to be taking off in China, Luckin coffee became all the talk on Chinese social media this week for its collaboration with Maotai (茅台), also known as Moutai, a renowned Chinese brand of baijiu – a type of strong distilled liquor.

Luckin launched the drink on Monday for 38 yuan ($5.20) under the name “酱香拿铁” (jiàng xiāng ná tiě) or “Sauce-Flavored Latte,” soon selling out at various stores and becoming a trending topic online. The ‘sauce’ reference is because of the distinct flavor profile associated with Maotai, often described as having a soy sauce-like aroma (“酱香型”).

The collaboration has become super popular for various reasons, one major one being the unexpected yet exciting combination of two such well-known Chinese brands coming together.

Promotion of the Maotai coffee on Luckin’s Weibo page.

Luckin Coffee (瑞幸咖啡) was founded in Beijing in 2017, opened its first shops in early 2018, and it has seen incredible growth over the past five years. The brand’s primary emphasis lies in providing top-notch coffee at accessible prices in convenient locations. Due to its ubiquity and dominant position in the market, it’s sometimes also referred to as “China’s Starbucks” (“中国星巴克”).

Maotai, made in Maotai in Guizhou Province, prides itself for its 2000-year history and it became the first Chinese liquor to be produced in large-scale production. The strong luxury spirit (53%), known as China’s national liquor, is especially popular among middle-aged and elderly men.

With Luckin being particular popular among China’s younger generations, while Maotai is especially loved among the elder generations, one popular Weibo post about the recent collaboration said: “For young people, it’s their first cup of Maotai, for the elderly, it’s their first cup of Luckin.”

It is also one of the reasons why the trend has become so big this week: many consumers are just curious to try this novel combination, although not everyone likes its special taste.

Trying out the new Luckin x Maotai combo (photos via @互联网欢乐指南).

The blend of coffee with alcohol is really more about the flavor than the buzz; the baijiu-flavored Luckin coffee only has an alcohol content of about 0.5%. One Weibo hashtag related to the question of whether or not people should drive after consuming the drink amassed an astonishing 640 million views (#瑞幸回应喝茅台联名咖啡能否开车#). Despite the very low alcohol content, Luckin still advises that minors, pregnant women, and drivers should avoid consuming the beverage.

The “Chinese version of Irish Coffee,” image on Xiaohongshu via @謝琦鈦.

Some social media users add some extra Maotai to their coffee themselves, calling it the “Chinese version of Irish coffe” (“中国版的爱尔兰咖啡”).

 
“Milk Tea for Grown-Ups”
 

Luckin is not the only Chinese coffee house offering a Maotai-flavored latte. Other Chinese coffee shops have independently introduced their own versions of Maotai coffee, without official partnerships.

In addition to company-driven innovations, consumers are also experimenting with their own coffee + liquor blends. On the social media platform Xiaohongshu, numerous users are enthusiastically sharing their personalized methods infusing coffee with Maotai and various other types of alcohol, including adding miniature bottles of Baileys to Starbucks takeaway coffee.

Image via Xiaohongshu user @潮流情报官.

Others are going beyond the coffee trend, and mix their milk tea or fruit tea with Jameson, Kahlua, or other liquors, turning them into “grown-up milk tea” beverages (成年人的奶茶).

While such practices might receive disapproval in many countries, where daytime drinking and adding spirits to coffee could be seen as indicative of alcoholism and irresponsible behavior, in China, these actions generally lack these negative connotations. Many young people just view it as an innovative way to enjoy new tastes, describing it as “a new trendy way to drink coffee” (or tea).

Is the coffee + alcohol mix a temporary trend, or will it become a permanent part of China’s out-of-home coffee culture? On social media, most people are curious to try it out but they are also not convinced the combination is one to stay.

“I don’t really know the flavor of coffee + alcohol, but judging from their effects – alcohol makes me sleepy and coffee wakes me up – I’m afraid it would mix up my nerves, so I don’t dare to try” one commenter (@无边桃炎) wrote.

“It’s just the taste [of mixing coffee with alcohol] that’s really good – apart from the Maotai Luckin one,” one person responded.

They are not alone; numerous young Chinese internet users are speculating that the recent Luckin collaboration is Maotai’s strategy to appeal to China’s younger generations, who do not necessarily appreciate its distinct flavor. These younger demographics have moved away from the traditional drinking culture in which baijiu plays a significant role.

“It’s just so unpleasant to drink,” others write. “Is it alcohol or is it coffee?” another person wonders: “In the end, it’s actually neither.”

While Luckin’s “Sauce-Flavored Latte” might not secure a permanent place on its menu, it’s clear that the trend of adding alcohol to coffee has gained popularity among China’s younger consumers. With 7-Eleven’s DIY counter offering a variety of sweeter liquors for customers to blend with their coffee, it appears they’ve found the perfect “shot” in this coffee and liquor trend.

By Manya Koetse

with contributions by Miranda Barnes

References

Ferreira, Jennifer, and Carlos Ferreira. 2018. “Challenges and Opportunities of New Retail Horizons in Emerging Markets: The Case of a Rising Coffee Culture in China.” Business Horizons 61, no. 5: 783-796.

Xu, Xinyue, and Aaron Yikai Ng. 2023. “Cultivation of New Taste: Taste Makers and New Forms of Distinction in China’s Coffee Culture.” Information, Communication & Society 26, no. 11: 2345-2362.

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©2023 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.

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China Food & Drinks

Japanese Restaurant in Shanghai Faces Backlash for Offering “Anti-Radiation” Meals

Amidst the panic surrounding Fukushima, this Shanghai-based Japanese-style restaurant ventured into a new business approach.

Manya Koetse

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Since August 24th, when Japan started the release of treated radioactive water from the damaged Fukushima power plant into the ocean, a myriad of related topics have surged across Chinese social media platforms.

The dissemination of news concerning the Fukushima wastewater discharge, amplified by Chinese media outlets, has sparked considerable unrest in various ways.

Among these is the phenomenon of salt hoarding. There have been dozens of posts on Weibo showing extreme examples of people stockpiling salt. In some places, people queued for up to an hour to buy salt while early-bird shoppers left stores with heavily laden shopping carts.

China also saw instances of salt hoarding in 2011, just after the tsunami and Fukushima disaster. Some people equate ‘salt’ to ‘sea salt’ and they are concerned that salt stocks could potentially become contaminated due to the Fukushima wastewater. But there is also a general belief that salt consumption could provide protection against exposure to radioactivity.

Nonetheless, regular table salt does not actually provide protection against radiation, and consuming excessive amounts of iodized salt could potentially pose health risks on its own.

While scientists and critics find the recent panic to be unfounded – emphasizing that Japan’s actions fall within the safety limits of the Atomic Energy Agency and that the environmental impact is minimal, – a prevailing skepticism toward Western powers combined with official media boosting news concerning the discharge of radioactive water, ensures that Fukushima-related fears and misconceptions remain pervasive.

The concerns surrounding Fukushima have already had negative consequences for many business owners in China, especially for some Japanese-style restaurant owners who felt the need to change their theme, change their name, or explicitly state that their ingredients are not actually coming from Japan.

Meanwhile, there are also some who are trying to capitalize on the situation for profit.

One Japanese-style restaurant in Shanghai’s Hongqiao recently starting offering a so-called “anti radiation” set meal (“防辐射”套餐). The set meal, which was first introduced on online platform Dianping, included ingredients such as tomatoes, edamame, tofu, and spinach.

The Japanese restaurant introduced the menu on the 25th, a day after Japan started discharging the first batch of wastewater into the ocean. While various Chinese media write that there is no scientific basis for the radiation-blocking effects of these foods, the restaurant stated they no longer use any products from Japan and that ingredients used are all sourced locally.

According to various news posts, the restaurant compiled the menu through research and seeking advice from a nutritionist. The restaurant also associated each dish with particular benefits, including claims of “reducing skin damage” or “stimulating cell growth.”

But soon after the restaurant had put their anti-radiation menu online, it became a big topic of discussion, with one related hashtag on Weibo getting over 140 million views (#上海一日料店上架防辐射套餐#).

“Of course, the next step is to make a quick buck by pushing anti-radiation products,” one popular comment said (using the phrase gē jiǔcài 割韭菜, ‘harvesting chives,’ also explained in our latest newsletter).

Other people wondered why one would order such a menu if you might as well cook the exact same things at home. “Why would I pay 28 yuan for tomato with seasoning?”

Meanwhile, Chinese media outlets, citing legal experts, focused more on the legal problems surrounding the menu, suggesting that making false claims is against the law.

Following the controversy, the restaurant has now pulled its menu offline.

Nonetheless, the restaurant won’t be the first or the last business owner to profit from Fukushima fear and anger. While some are selling anti-radiation tablets, others are selling t-shirts with slogans opposing Japan’s decision to discharge the wastewater.

T-shirt sold on Taobao opposing the “ocean dumping” of Fukushima wastewater (screenshot via Whatsonweibo).

On Weibo, local authorities and media accounts are cautioning consumers against purchasing ineffective products that offer no protection against radiation exposure, reiterating that buying loads of salt will not help either.

By Manya Koetse

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©2023 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.

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