1. Chinese Fruit Retailer Pagoda Faces Backlash Over CEO’s Tone-Deaf Remarks on High Fruit Prices [#百果园称不会迎合消费者#] [#百果园#]

The Chinese fresh fruit retail chain Pagoda (百果园) is in hot water after its chairman Yu Huiyong (余惠勇) defended its high-quality, high-price business by saying something rather tone-deaf in a recent interview—namely, that instead of fooling consumers (with a bad price–quality ratio), the company is “educating” China’s consumers (“我们在教育消费者变成熟”) rather than directly catering to their wishes (“我们不会去迎合消费者”). In times when many people are struggling to pay high prices for fruit, netizens are calling Yu “arrogant and conceited” (狂妄自大). “I just want to buy some fruit, not be educated by you,” others said.

Manya’s Take:
A Dutch saying goes, “Trust arrives on foot but leaves on horseback.” A reputation that takes years to build can vanish overnight with comments like these, leaving consumers feeling that a brand they thought they knew is, in fact, completely out of touch with its buyers. We saw something similar when top influencer Austin Li (Li Jiaqi) made a snarky remark during a livestream after a viewer suggested an eyeliner he was selling was too expensive. Read more about that here.

2. Tiananmen Night Rehearsal Fuels Anticipation for September Parade [#九三阅兵#] [#中国人民抗战胜利80周年#]

Over the past weekend, clips and photos of overnight drills for the Tiananmen Square commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII—officially the “Victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression”—went viral. Spectacular videos of the military parade were widely shared by state media ahead of the actual commemoration event scheduled for September 3, 2025. Around 22,000 people took part in the rehearsal. Watch video here.

Manya’s Take:
This year holds particular importance in the collective memory of the Second Sino-Japanese War (in Chinese, it is referred to as the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japan, 抗日战争, 1937–1945). This significance is reflected not only in state media narratives but also in popular culture and on social media. If you want to read more about why this war is still so relevant today, I highly recommend this book by Rana Mitter.

3. Alipay Glitch Sparks Nationwide Payment Disruptions (& Worries) [#支付宝崩了#]

On Aug 10, the Weibo hashtag “Alipay Down” (#支付宝崩了#) went top trending, receiving nearly 63 million views in a single day. The hashtag became a hot search item after Alipay users around the country reported being unable to pay, not being able to access the app, or experiencing other strange issues — numerous users reported repeated deductions and errors in balance display. Service appeared to normalize by midday, but the outage ignited online debates about platform reliability and the need for clearer incident communication during outages.

Manya’s Take:
China’s virtual “cashless society” has become a reality thanks to two major players: Alibaba’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat. As of 2025, Alipay holds the largest market share at about 53%, with WeChat Pay close behind at roughly 42%. Together, they dominate over 90% of China’s mobile payments industry — but when one of the two seems less reliable, it’s a win for the other. In this case, some are calling it a “green wallet victory” (“这一局绿泡泡胜利，小蓝崩了用小绿”), referring to the green-colored WeChat Pay app. Beyond that, incidents like this are a stark reminder of the serious downsides in an economy where everything from street vendors to major retailers relies solely on cashless payments.

4. 8-Year-Old Autistic Boy Goes Missing While Camping in Dali [#云南大理一7岁小孩在苍山走失#] [#大理男童走失#]

An 8-year-old boy named Wang Yikai (王一铠) who went missing in Yunnan’s Dali on August 9 during a summer camp is still making headlines in China, as rescue teams have been unable to locate him. The boy is considered especially vulnerable as he has been diagnosed with autism. The area where Wang disappeared, around Cang Mountain, is characterized by ravines and dense vegetation. More than 300 rescue personnel have been deployed, along with search dogs, drones, and thermal imaging devices.

5. Guangdong Chikungunya Initially Contained; Privacy Concerns Emerge [#广东基孔肯雅热已得到初步遏制#] [#蚊媒病毒控制引发隐私担忧#] [#湛江回应凌晨家长不在家孩子被抽血#]

A recent outbreak of the Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) in southern China is reportedly under initial control. The mosquito-borne virus, which causes high fever, joint pain, rash, and nausea, has been in the spotlight after cases in Foshan, Guangdong surged past 7,000 since July. One incident drawing major attention involves claims that members of a “mosquito-control team” entered a mother’s home at night (while she was working a night shift) to take her children’s blood samples without consent as part of epidemic prevention efforts.

Manya’s Take:
It’s interesting to see how local handling of the Chikungunya outbreak is sparking intense responses — some say they are “literally trembling with anger” after learning that children had their blood drawn at night by strangers without their mother present. This reaction not only shows how fresh the scars of the zero-COVID era remain, but also raises the question of whether the Chinese public would accept such virus-containment tactics again. (I doubt they would.)