WEIBO SHORT | Weibo Shorts are concise articles on topics that are currently trending. This article was first published
On June 27, a local public security bureau in the city of Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, released a press statement regarding the peculiar case of twin sisters who used each other’s identity to travel abroad over thirty times.
The two Zhou sisters, *Hong and *Wei (pseudonyms), started switching identities when Hong’s husband, a Japanese national, returned to Japan. Hong wanted to join her husband in Japan, but her visa application was repeatedly denied due to not meeting the requirements.
Hong then decided to use her sister’s travel documents to travel to Japan to see her husband various times. She reportedly also used her sister’s passport to travel to Russia. She ended up traveling between China, Russia, and Japan at least thirty times.
Wei, who reportedly thought this way of switching identities was “convenient”, also used her sister’s passport to travel to Thailand and some other countries on four different occasions.
After authorities found out what the sisters had been up to earlier in 2022, they were advised in May to return back to China. While the case is still under investigation, the sisters are now being held for the criminal offense of border management obstruction.
The case went trending in the hot-search topic list on Weibo, where many people are wondering how this could have happened so many times. “If you exit and enter the country, aren’t fingerprints collected?”, some wondered, with others saying the border technological systems were apparently not good enough to detect such identity fraud.
There were also those who thought the story was quite “amazing” and sounded “like the plot of a television series.”
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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.
Chinese Female Homeowner Slapped in Altercation with Nanchang Office Worker
This viral video has exposed the violent actions of Yang, an office worker who initially provoked the anger of local residents and has now ignited fury on Chinese social media as well.
An incident that happened on September 27th in Jiangxi’s Nanchang has become a major topic of discussion on Chinese social media over the past two days, and all revolves around a viral video that shows a man suddenly striking a Chinese female homeowner across the face.
The backstory of the video revolves around a dispute between the local homeowners and the man, who holds a higher position at the office building situated within the residential area’s property.
Upon discovering that an iron fence, which separated the residential area from the office area, had been cut open without notifying the local homeowners, the woman entered the office building to seek an explanation for why the fence was damaged and breached without the consent of the residential area’s residents. Apparently, employees at the company wanted to create a shortcut.
During the confrontation, the man told the woman: “If you want to talk, go to the community meeting room.” Just as the woman asked him why the fence was cut open with a cutting machine, the man suddenly and forcefully slapped her in the face.
What was he thinking?! This 43-year-old office worker from Nanchang suddenly turned violent, striking a female resident across the face after being asked why they cut open an iron fence separating the office & residential area (probably as shortcut). The slap has now gone viral. pic.twitter.com/vDNDczgyYQ
After the incident, the woman was taken to a local hospital for a medical examination, and the police initially intervened in the case as mediators. However, the latest updates on the case reveal that the man is now detained for ten days. Apart from slapping the female homeowner, a 32-year-old woman named Wang, the 43-year-old office worker Mr. Yang reportedly also struck another woman, a 37-year-old local named Cheng.
The video has captured the attention of netizens not just because of the man’s actions towards a woman but also because it seemed to occur out of nowhere. One moment, the man was engaged in conversation with the woman, and the next moment, he suddenly slapped her across the face.
Recently, there have also been other ‘slapping moments’ that went viral on Chinese social media. Earlier this year, the “high-speed train slapping incident”, involving two women arguing on a train and slapping each other in the face, garnering widespread attention (read here). Another recent incident involves the ‘Subway Judge,’ a young man who intervened in a subway argument and suddenly slapped an older man in the face (read here).
As is often the case, a short video may not capture the full context of a situation, and some Chinese netizens who claim to have more information about the incident suggest that multiple office workers were actually involved in the confrontation with the women.
Another video provides additional footage of the altercation, revealing that Yang threatened one of the women with a cutting machine. It also shows how he brought Ms. Wang to the ground after the initial slapping incident.
Local residents and Yang, who is believed to oversee the office department, have been in a longstanding conflict. According to a homeowner’s post on Weibo, when the residents bought their apartments, they were not informed about the nearby office building. They only discovered it when they received their keys.
Initially, Evergrande, the property developer, had promised separate management for the residential and office areas, but due to apparent financial difficulties, this plan was never finalized. The homeowners therefore erected the iron fence to separate the residential and commercial areas, leading to continuous arguments and intimidation between the office workers and the residents.
Mr. Yang on the office side of the fence. He has now reportedly been detained for ten days.
Some Weibo commenters are suggesting that the man’s behavior makes him seem more like a gang member than a typical office worker. In addition to the legal consequences that Yang is facing from local authorities, his reputation is undoubtedly taking a hit.
As of now, Chinese netizens have already exposed his identity, and the internet is never forgiving when it comes to these kinds of incidents, leaving a lasting mark on one’s public image.
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The story of a restaurant employee who had to pay the price for sharing a video of a mother beating her child has triggered anger on Chinese social media.
The incident happened on September 14, when Mr. Jiang (江), an employee at the ‘Peng Shu’ Western-style restaurant in Changsha, stopped a mother from beating her young daughter at the shopping mall where the restaurant is located.
As reported by the Guizhou media channel People’s Focus (@百姓关注), a mother and daughter at the restaurant drew the staff’s attention when the mother began physically assaulting her daughter.
The mother, clearly overwhelmed by her emotions, resorted to kicking, hitting, yelling, and even attempting to strike her child with a chair, allegedly in response to the child accidentally spilling ice cream on her clothing.
During this distressing incident, which was captured on video, Mr. Jiang and another colleague intervened to protect the child and immediately alerted the police to the situation.
But the one who was punished in the end was not the mother.
Changsha restaurant staff intervened when seeing a mother beating her child. The topic went trending as a case of injustice after an employee was forced to pay a 10k rmb fine for spreading a video of the incident, while the mother faced no punishment. Read https://t.co/tHGSJx3EGNpic.twitter.com/of5j8KBlCe
The video of this incident was shared online, leading the woman to repeatedly visit the restaurant in frustration over her unblurred face in the video. The police had to mediate in this dispute.
To the dismay of many netizens, the employee ended up being forced to pay the woman 10,000 yuan ($1369) in compensation for “moral damages.” He has since resigned from his job and has left Changsha. A related hashtag was viewed over 110 million times on Weibo (#餐厅员工发顾客打娃视频后赔1万离职#) and also became a hot topic on Douyin.
The majority of commenters expressed their anger at the unjust outcome where a restaurant employee, who had attempted to protect the child, faced repercussions while the mother appeared to avoid any legal consequences for her actions.
“Where is the All-China Women’s Federation when you need them?” some wondered, while others wanted to know why the incident was not followed up with an immediate investigation into the child abuse. Others suggested that if it were a man who had beaten his child, authorities would have been quicker to intervene.
The issue of corporal punishment for children often comes up in Chinese social media discussions. While many people find it unacceptable to beat children, using violence to discipline children is also commonplace in many families.
When China’s first national law against domestic violence came into effect on 1 March 2016, article 5 and 12 specifically addressed the special legal protection of children and made family violence against children against the law.
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