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News of Shanghai Illegal Garbage Dumping Leads to Online ‘Shanghai Bashing’

Chinese netizens have responded with anger to recent news reports that tons of construction waste from Shanghai is being dumped outside the city. The news led to an online ‘Shanghai bashing’ galore, with some netizens defending the city’s reputation.

Manya Koetse

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Chinese netizens have responded with anger to recent news reports that tons of construction waste from Shanghai is being dumped outside the city. The news led to an online ‘Shanghai bashing’ galore – with some netizens defending the city’s reputation.

On Friday, July 1, eight vessels from Shanghai carrying around 4000 tons of construction waste were caught while secretly trying to dump it in the Suzhou Taihu National Tourism Zone (苏州太湖西山岛).

Authorities were able to intervene before the garbage was illegally dumped, but they later reported that over 20,000 tons of waste, mostly construction materials, were also found across 2400 square meters of the bank, Shanghai Daily writes.

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On Sina Weibo, various Chinese media reported about the event, saying the owners of the vessels and those involved have been detained. The related construction company is currently under investigation.

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For many angry netizens, the news was a reason to bash Shanghai: “This is typical for Shanghai people,” some netizens say. “Aren’t their morals high?”, another Weibo user sarcastically responds with smileys.

Others are not happy that the waste scandal is connected to Shanghai local culture: “Oh, here’s a chance again to bash Shanghai people,” one netizen responds. One female netizen responds to the Shanghai bashing with a long post: “4000 tons of garbage from Shanghai has illegally been dumped near Lake Taihu, which was reported by state media and then led to many reactions bashing Shanghainese. But this is typically Chinese. They don’t even know how other cities or backward regions handle their garbage.”

She also defended Shanghai by saying those responsible for the waste scandal originally are not from Shanghai.

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Others agree with the girl, saying: “It is no use to bash the people of Shanghai for this – they were not the ones who all smuggled this waste to Suzhou.”

But there are many who say that the reason they bash Shanghai people is because “it is Shanghai people who always bash people from outside their city” and that “people producing so much trash deserve to be scolded.”

Earlier this year, another Weibo trending topic also led to ‘Shanghai bashing’ when a girl who called herself “a pure Shanghainese” broke up with her boyfriend from outside Shanghai after his parents served her a ‘disappointing’ countryside Chinese new year’s dinner.

Shanghai’s reputation recently also became a topic of discussion on the online forum Reddit, where netizens connected the city’s reputation to an ongoing rivalry between Beijing and Shanghai. “Half of China things Shanghai is full of stuck up twats. The other half think Beijing is full of stuck up twats,” one Reddit user wrote.

Other netizens say the supposed Shanghai-Beijing rivalry is comparable to that of other big cities like Sydney and Melbourne, or Tokyo and Osaka.

Besides the Shanghai bashers, there are also some netizens who do not link the recent Shanghai waste scandal to the city but to China’s way of dealing with garbage: “China does not have a good recycling system. If the government does not solve this problem, the pollution created by waste will become an increasingly serious issue.”

– 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 Brands, Marketing & Consumers

Tsingtao Brewery ‘Pee-Gate’: Factory Worker Caught Urinating in Raw Material Warehouse

The pee incident, that occurred at a subsidiary Tsingtao Beer factory, has caused concerns among consumers.

Manya Koetse

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A video that has circulated on Chinese social media since October 19 shows how an alleged worker at a Tsingtao Beer factory climbs over a wall at the raw material production site and starts to urinate.

The incident reportedly occurred at the Tsingtao Beer Factory No. 3, a subsidiary of the Tsingtao Brewing Company, located in Qingdao, Shandong.

After the video went viral, the Tsingtao Brewery Company issued a statement that they took the incident very seriously and immediately report it to the authorities, who have started an investigation into the case. Meanwhile, the specific batch in production has been halted and shut off.

The incident has caused concern among consumers, and some commenters on social media wonder if this was the first time something like this has happened. “How do we know this hasn’t happened many times before?”

Others speculate about what might have motivated the man to urinate at the production site. There are those who believe that the man is part of an undercover operation orchestrated by a rivaling company, aimed at discrediting Tsingtao. It’s even suggested that there were two ‘moles’ leaking in this incident: one doing the urinating, and the other doing the video ‘leak.’

Meanwhile, there are voices who are critical of Tsingtao, suggesting that the renowned beer brand has not effectively addressed the ‘pee gate’ scandal. It remains uncertain how this incident will impact the brand, but some netizens are already expressing reservations about ordering a Tsingtao beer as a result.

But there are also those who joke about the “pissing incident,” wondering if Tsingtao Beer might soon launch a special “urine flavored beer.”

By Manya Koetse

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Featured photo by Jay Ang (link).

Spotted a mistake or want to add something? Please let us know in comments below or email us. First-time commenters, please be patient – we will have to manually approve your comment before it appears.

©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 Local News

Streamed Without Realizing: Chinese Village Cadres Suspended after Sex Scene Video Leaks Online

“Village cadres are so hard-working. Besides conducting conferences, they also do live-streaming!”

Manya Koetse

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Two cadres working in Weicheng District in Shandong Province were suspended this week after an “inappropriate video” that showed them engaging in sexual acts started circulating on Chinese social media.

The two got a bit too cozy together in a meeting room, and the moment allegedly was unknowingly caught on camera after a secretary did not turn the camera off after a video conference.

On October 6, Phoenix News (@凤凰网) reported that the subdistrict office in question denied that such an incident took place in their jurisdiction.

The local Discipline Inspection Commission, however, confirmed that the incident did take place and that the case was under investigation, although they would not confirm which positions the two cadres held. Online, it was claimed that they are a thirty-something male secretary in and a fifty-something female director.

Some Chinese media sources noted that the video in question seems to have been recorded from a security camera system screen, raising questions about whether the two had forgotten about the security cameras, or if they actually forgot to turn off a conference call camera, or if the incident was captured by both the security cameras and the webcam.

On Weibo and other Chinese social media, the incident has caused some banter among netizens.

“At least our Party comrades are now addressing their needs internally without causing harm to society – that could be considered a form of progress,” one popular comment said.

“It’s not bad, it’s just bad that they forgot to turn the webcam off,” others replied.

“Ah, so this is officially what officials do?” others wondered.

“Village cadres are so hard-working. Besides conducting conferences, they also do livestreaming!”

By now, it’s been confirmed by a staff member at the Wangliu St. Office in Weifang that the two individuals involved, both village cadres, have been suspended. They are currently under investigation by the Disciplinary Inspection Committee. By early Saturday, a related hashtag had garnered over 200 million views on Weibo (#两干部流出不雅视频被停职#).

By Manya Koetse

Get the story behind the hashtag. Subscribe to What’s on Weibo here to receive our newsletter and get access to our latest articles:

Spotted a mistake or want to add something? Please let us know in comments below or email us. First-time commenters, please be patient – we will have to manually approve your comment before it appears.

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

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