Thousands of apps are available to China’s mobile users, but not all of them are safe. These apps were marked as harmful by Chinese state media this week.
On September 17, Chinese state media outlet Xinhua News Agency issued a top 10 list of harmful mobile apps. The list, published via various social media outlets, raised discussions online about the security risks of seemingly innocent and fun apps.
The top 10 list comes during China’s 2019 “Clean the Web” (净网) campaign, an ongoing nationwide initiative organized by Chinese authorities to clean China’s digital environment by eradicating pornography and ‘illegal publications’ (扫黄打非).
As the People’s Republic of China will soon celebrate its 70th anniversary, the “Clean the Web 2019” campaign is now in full swing.
According to China’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (NCVERC), the 10 listed ‘harmful apps’ posing hazards related to illegal gambling, stealing personal data, and having in-app downloads without users’ permission.
The full list of harmful mobile apps (and their bugged versions) is as follows.
The following first four apps are accused of personal data breaches:
1. ‘Happy Eliminating’《开心消消消》(Version 1.1)
The app on the left (开心消消消) is very similar to another popular gaming app called Happy Elements (开心消消乐).
This gaming app (image on the left), is highly similar to another popular gaming app known as Xiaoxiaole or Happy Elements (开心消消乐) (on the right).
2. ‘Digule’《嘀咕乐》(Version 1.0.1)
App screenshots from SnapPea.
This app promises to offer free comics and offline downloads. The app presents itself as being “non-ads interference” on the Android Market.
3. ‘Mifeng Yx’《蜜蜂优选》(Version 2.4.2)
This app helps users to get discount from popular online shopping sites such as Tmall and Taobao.
4. ‘Yangling Travel’《杨凌旅游》
This is a travel app that offers a wealth of information related to self-guided tours, travel tips, and hotel booking services.
The following apps have been labeled as ‘harmful’ for containing malware; their plug-ins and bundles drain users’ cellular data by downloading promotional ads and mobile apps in the background without permission:
5. ‘Zhijiao YXY’《职教云学院》(Version 1.0.2)
Zhijiao YXY is an online teaching platform for vocational education.
6. ‘Fashion Snap’《时尚快拍》(Version 3.6.72)
Fashion Snap is a beauty camera and photo editor tool.
7. ‘Watermark Images’《水印修图》(Version 4.0.91)
This is another photo editor tool featuring photo watermark add-ons.
These last three apps were linked with gambling activities by Chinese state media, or have security vulnerabilities making users susceptible to financial losses:
8. ‘Cute Puppy Go Home’《萌犬回家》(Version 2.0)
This is an app that matches pets with potential adopters.
9. Guess-emoji-challenge (Version 1.1)
As its name indicates, this is a mobile gaming app all about emoji guessing.
10. Warehouse Manager《仓库管家》(Version 1.0.1)
This is a warehouse management application.
(Note that we found two additional apps with the exact same name on AppAdvice, both are described as warehouse management applications – so for now, it is not clear which one of the three is the one referred to by Xinhua, and how it is associated with gambling.)
In addition to warning Chinese mobile users about the aforementioned versions of the 10 apps, Chinese media also spread the NCVERS’s advise in recommending netizens to use “real-time monitoring” anti-virus apps to help detect malware carried by illegal and harmful apps.
In response to the report on the harmful apps, SinaTech Newslaunched a poll on Weibo asking people what unwanted side functions mobile apps they dreaded the most.
At the time of writing, a majority (48.7%) of the 77,000 people participating in the poll indicated that “collecting user data without permission” is one of the things they loathe the most.
With China’s Cybersecurity Week kicking off earlier this month, there’s recently been an increased (social) media focus on cybersecurity in China.
This week, Chinese cybersecurity experts warned social media users not to post photos of themselves doing a V-sign gesture, since criminals could possibly abuse their fingerprint data.
The Chinese app Zao also sparked major privacy concerns in China earlier this month. The app, that was released on August 30, allows users to play with face-swapping and “deepfake” effects. There were soon concerns about the app’s questionable privacy policy, which stated it had “free, irrevocable, permanent, transferable, and relicenseable” rights to all user-generated content (also see The Guardian).
By now, the hashtag ‘Ten Lawbreaking & Harmful Apps” (#十款违法有害App#) has received over 130 million views on Weibo.
“This is a time for all of us to be concerned,” one Weibo blogger writes, with others agreeing: “I think all apps are collecting our data nowadays.”
But not all people seem to be so worried: “Weibo, WeChat, and Baidu – I’d say those apps are really harmful! They are harmful because they make me waste so many hours of my day.”
Jialing is a Baruch College Business School graduate and a former student at the Beijing University of Technology. She currently works in the US-China business development industry in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a passion for literature and humanity studies, Jialing aims to deepen the general understanding of developments in contemporary China.
What’s in your water? Would a water by any other name taste as good? That’s the main gist of the topic that’s been trending these days after Chinese consumers found out the Wahaha water they purchased was actually produced by Jinmailang, calling it an ‘OEM controversy’ (OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer).
Wahaha Group (娃哈哈集团) is one of the largest food and beverage producers in China. The brand is a beloved one—last year in March, when its founder and chairman Zong Qinghou (宗庆后) passed away, people collectively began buying Wahaha water to show sympathy for the brand and for Zong, who was seen as a patriotic and humble businessman.
Big bottle of Wahaha (meaning “laughing child”) water.
In fact, that movement to pay tribute to Wahaha got a bit out of hand and turned into a grassroots campaign to boycott another water brand: Nongfu Spring, a competitor whose founder, Chinese entrepreneur Zhong Shanshan (钟睒睒), was not considered as patriotic (read more here).
Now, a different kind of ‘controversy’ is unfolding around China’s famous bottled water brand, directly related to last year’s sales boom. Chinese netizens have posted videos and images claiming that the Wahaha purified water they bought was actually produced by Jinmailang (今麦郎)—as stated on the label.
Wahaha water, produced by Jinmailang (今麦郎).
Jinmailang is an entirely separate food enterprise group—mostly known for its noodles—based in Xingtai, Hebei, since 1994. Both Wahaha and Jinmailang produce purified water (纯净水).
The fact that Jinmailang was mentioned on Wahaha’s labels as the producer raised questions: why bother buying Wahaha at all? Consumers might as well buy Jinmailang directly instead of these relabeled bottles? Wahaha is generally more expensive than Jinmailang’s own Blue Label water.
Wahaha’s customer service soon responded, confirming that they had indeed outsourced some of their production to Jinmailang. However, that partnership was terminated in April of this year after certain batches of purified water products failed to pass factory sampling tests (#娃哈哈称已终止和今麦郎代工合作#).
Customer service staff also stated that as long as Wahaha products are purchased through official channels, they comply with Wahaha’s quality standards and are safe to drink.
On May 16, Xinhua News published an interview with Fan Xianguo (范现国), the chairman of Jinmailang, about serving as an OEM for Wahaha. Without mentioning the termination of the partnership, Fan stated that last year, Wahaha’s bottled water sales suddenly soared, and that they began searching for companies that could support them during these peak times while adhering to their strict quality requirements – otherwise they would not be able to meet market demand.
Producing 1.2 billion bottles of water for Wahaha. Jinmailang’s xinua interview.
Jinmailang stepped in around June 2024, promising to support Wahaha’s production. During the peak season, they even prioritized Wahaha’s orders over their own. Over the course of a year, they produced 1.2 billion bottles of water for the company. Speaking about their own brand, Fan stated that they keep their prices as low as possible by minimizing their profits. One bottle of water only gives them 0.02 RMB ($0,0028) profit.
The interview seemed to cause a shift in online sentiments. Many netizens now praised Jinmailang for its response and for stepping in, viewing the cooperation as an example of domestic brands supporting one another.
Some suggested that Wahaha had betrayed Jinmailang by emphasizing the termination of their contract rather than acknowledging how the company had stepped in to help during a time of need.
At the same time, others applauded how Jinmailang turned the situation to its advantage by using it as an opportunity to promote its own brand.
“I’m switching to Jinmailang from now on, it’s way more cost-effective!” one comment read.
Especially since last year’s “water wars”, it’s clear that consumers’ choice of water is about more than quenching thirst alone — it’s also about which brand’s story resonates with them. As the peak season for bottled water is approaching, the OEM controversy comes at an especially unfortunate time for Wahaha. It’s Jinmailang that now seems to be having the last laugh in this OEM controversy.
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The China tour of American Youtube star IShowSpeed (Darren Watkins Jr.) is still echoing on Chinese social media—the hype hasn’t quieted down just yet, especially now that the popular livestreamer launched his very first Chinese commercial recently, just before the May Day holiday.
It’s an online commercial for China’s dairy giant Yili, and—in line with IShowSpeed’s high-energy livestream—it is entertainingly chaotic. Watkins himself posted the video on his Weibo account on April 30.
In China, Watkins is known as 甲亢哥 (Jiǎ Kàng Gē), which literally means “Hyperthyroidism Brother.” Hyperthyroidism is a condition where the thyroid is overactive, leading to symptoms like restlessness, a rapid heartbeat, and high energy levels. Due to Watkins’ fast-paced livestreams and his reputation for running, screaming, and jumping around, the nickname is a tongue-in-cheek reference that fits him well.
The commercial also suits him, as it is a bit of a rollercoaster. It begins like a typical celebrity endorsement, with Watkins promoting a dairy drink, but quickly shifts into a quirky narrative. In it, Watkins appears god-like, watching over people from a mountaintop and encouraging them to try new things. The ad then morphs into a music video before ending with some inspirational words from the YouTuber himself. Watch the commercial here.
The slogan used in the commercial is “lái dōu lái le” (来都来了), along with the English tagline “Enjoy milk, enjoy holiday.”
“Lái dōu lái le” (来都来了) is a simple phrase that basically means “You’re already here,” and implies a light-hearted “Why not?” to encourage people to go on and do something (since you’ve come this far), or try something new.
Dao Insights’ Yimin Wang explained it as having a positive and daring tone to try new things that you’d otherwise “wouldn’t, couldn’t, or even shouldn’t,” much like “YOLO” from the early 2010s (link).
On Xiaohongshu, typical responses to the commercial describe it as “creative” and “cute.” More notably, many users see it as proof of how successful Watkins’ tour in China has been. “He’s like a native celebrity in China now,” one commenter remarked.
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