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China Brands, Marketing & Consumers

“Cheap”, “Ugly”, “Nothing like Hong Kong” – Netizens Disgruntled with New Shanghai Disneyland Trains

Shanghai’s very first Disney-themed trains will start running on June 16, the very same day of the grand opening of Shanghai Disneyland. Many netizens, however, are disgruntled with the design, saying it is ugly compared to that of Hong Kong’s Disney trains.

Manya Koetse

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Shanghai’s very first Disney-themed trains will start running on June 16, the very same day of the grand opening of Shanghai Disneyland. Many netizens, however, are disgruntled with the design, saying it is ugly compared to that of Hong Kong’s Disney trains.

On June 14, Shanghai Metro accounced through its official Weibo account (@上海地铁shmetro) that its first Disney-themed trains will start running on June 16 at 12:00 noon.

The trains will…

Manya Koetse is a sinologist, writer, and public speaker specializing in China’s social trends, digital culture, and online media ecosystems. She founded What’s on Weibo in 2013 and now runs the Eye on Digital China newsletter. Learn more at manyakoetse.com or follow her on X, Instagram, or LinkedIn.

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China Brands, Marketing & Consumers

Quack Like a Goose: Why Beijing Street Vendor “Auntie Goose Legs” Sparked a Nationwide Debate

After the first complaints surfaced, Auntie Goose Legs admitted the truth about her business: she ha been selling duck legs all along.

Manya Koetse

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🔥 Originally published in Eye on Digital China.
My premium newsletter covering the stories, memes, debates, and viral moments shaping online conversations in China. Subscribe here to receive future editions.

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it might still be a goose – or the other way around. That, at least, is the takeaway from two stories that recently went viral on Chinese social media.

The woman at…

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My Mum Has Two Husbands: The OPPO Mother’s Day Fiasco and 7 Other Gender Marketing Fails in China

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Manya Koetse

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The backlash to OPPO’s Mother’s Day ad came from multiple directions, from grassroots netizens to official organizations. Here’s a closer look at the controversy, along with 7 other cases that show how gender-related marketing has become a recurring minefield for brands in China.

Mother’s Day is over, but OPPO is still recovering. The Chinese smartphone brand went viral over the weekend for a Mother’s Day marketing campaign that failed spectacularly. In the campaign, OPPO…

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