China Memes & Viral
“Soft Drink Prostitution” – How Beverage Bottles on Cars are Used for Soliciting Sex Outside of Chinese Campuses
People looking for paid sex have found a creative way of letting others know. In the world of so-called “soft drink prostitution,” green tea services are cheaper than Red Bull ones.
Over the past few days, various Chinese media outlets have been reporting about a new phenomenon popping up at Chinese campuses dubbed “soft drink prostitution.”
Just as shoes dangling from trees or telephone wire in many countries are associated with places where people can buy drugs, putting a drink on the roof or hood of a parked car in China (preferably a BMW), would mean the driver is soliciting prostitution.
A pet bottle on a car roof means someone is looking for some (paid) action.
Many recent articles about this issue, however, have been taken offline over the past two days from news sites such as Sina.com or Sohu.com.
Is it a new urban myth or is ‘soft drink prostitution’ in fact happening? What’s on Weibo dug deeper to find out more about what this phenomenon entails.
“Different drinks represent different prices.”
The recent coverage of the ‘soft drink prostitution’ phenomenon in Chinese media was first triggered by a notice on the official website of Tianjin Normal University on December 11, 2017, titled: “About the Disposal of ‘Rooftop Beverages’ on Cars From Outside the Campus” (“关于清理校园外来车辆“车顶放置饮料”的情况通报”).
Screenshot of the Dec 11 announcement on the Tianjin Normal University website about parked cars with beverage bottles on them.
The notice explained that since the beginning of the semester, campus security started noticing that parked cars outside the campus gates would have beverage bottles placed on their roofs or hoods with the purpose of “luring in female students to prostitute themselves,” and that “different drinks represent different prices.”
The notice also included a warning that it is illegal for people to perform sexual acts in return for money or goods, regardless of whether such transactions would occur between people of the same sex or opposite sex.
“This does indeed happen in various places.“
Around December 29, 18 days after the original announcement was allegedly placed, news of the Tianjin University phenomenon started spreading on social media in China.
On one message board, netizens questioned the veracity of the announcement, as it was nowhere to be found on the official website of the Tianjin Normal University.
“I’ve attentively examined the website of the Tianjin Normal University,” one commenter wrote: “And this particular news was not on the site. On December 11, they did post two articles, but one was about bank card skimming and the other was about the illegal recruitment of students for training programs. Also, the font used in the screenshot and that used on the official website is not the same.”
Although the critical readers determined this must be a fake news item, there were others who said that even if it were fake news, “this [practice] does [indeed] happen in various places.”
“It may lead to misunderstandings.“
As rumors about the Chinese campuses “soft drink prostitution” kept circulating online, news sources such as Modern Express (现代快报) and The Paper first covered the issue on January 2, 2018.
According to the The Paper, the announcement was, in fact, true, but that it was taken offline by the University because it “may lead to misunderstandings” because of its “wording.”
On Weibo, some netizens said that the article was more of a “manual” for students to how the phenomenon works than an actual warning against it.
According to a spokesperson at the University, the announcement concerned “a normal procedure,” and was not meant to attract so much attention online.
The spokesperson compared such a warning to regular announcements about pickpockets, and emphasized that no students had entered the parked cars.
“Green tea represents the offer to pay 300 yuan (±45$), whereas a can of Red Bull stands for 600 yuan (±90$).“
So-called “soft drink prostitution” is actually not an entirely new phenomenon around Chinese campuses. Various other media outlets and reporters, such this vlogger called ‘SheCar’on Baidu TV or this online newspaper already reported about the issue in 2016, explaining the difference between drinks types.
A bottle of mineral water means 200 yuan (30$), green tea represents the offer to pay 300 yuan (±45$), for instance, whereas a can of Red Bull stands for 600 yuan (±90$).
During a days-long experiment in which a Baidu TV presenter parked the car outside of various universities in Hunan with a beverage bottle on the rooftop, it turned out that several students -some female and one male- actually did pick up the bottle and got into the car.
In 2016, Sina news explained that the parked cars outside of campuses are mostly BMW brands. If a person gets into the car that is not to the driver’s liking, they can just say “they are waiting for someone.”
On Weibo, some netizens are surprised that the rumors and alleged “fake news” announcement have turned out to be true: “I always thought this was just some sexual fantasy,” one person comments.
There are also people who say that now that this phenomenon is more widely covered, it actually “reveals what people want to hide” (“此地无银三百两”).
Other people also point out that the beverage bottle trick does not always work. As one commenter writes: “I saw this in front of my school once. But no one got into the car all day. Finally, a street sweeper took the drink from the car roof and drank it.”
By Manya Koetse
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©2018 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.
China Memes & Viral
How a Boy Duped by Hair Salon Became the 2018 Internet Sensation
The footage of the awkwardly smiling and disillusioned teenager unravelled an endless stream of memes. Little did the teenager know that a few weeks after the incident, he would be the face of advertisement campaigns all over the country.
Looking back at Chinese social media in 2018, one unexpected internet celebrity is at the center of one of the most meme-worthy stories of the year, reaching over 470 million views on Weibo.
It all started earlier this year, when Wu Zhengqiang (吴正强), an 18-year-old teenager, walked into a salon in Hangzhou to get himself a haircut. It looked like it was going to be a great day when he was offered a special hair and skin treatment for “free” – until the bill came.
Before the treatment was finished, the boy was surrounded by several people and was presented with a paper he was asked to sign. Only after the treatment was finished, Wu found out that he had given his approval to a staggering bill of 39,600 yuan ($5756).
Wu, who only makes a little less than 3000 yuan a month ($435) as a real estate agent, was not willing to pay the bill. When the salon employees refused to let him pay 480 yuan ($70), the original price on their price-list, Wu reported the incident to the police. In the end, Wu paid the shop a total of 2500 yuan ($363) instead.
But as time passed, Wu got increasingly annoyed about the whole incident. Not only did he feel robbed of his money, he also found his freshly plucked eyebrows looking even worse than before the treatment. So, he reached out to a local Hangzhou tv station to share his grievances (footage below).
The interview soon attracted the attention on Chinese social media, where most commenters did not focus on the story of the struggling teenager, but instead focused on Wu’s strangely shaved-up hairline, his thick characteristic eyebrows, the disillusion in his eyes, and his nervous smile – it all turned out the be the perfect ingredients for an endless stream of funny memes.
The hashtag “Hairline-boy expressions” received over 470 million views on Weibo, featuring many memes in which people captured feelings such as “I feel terrible wronged,” “Smile gradually disappearing,” “I’m puzzled,” and “Excuse me.”
But the popularity of the teenager reached further than just netizens using his face for memes; Wu soon appeared on several tv-shows including one of China’s most popular variety shows Happy Camp. He also starred in several commercials, making his face well-recognized all over the country.
Also, Wu’s personal Weibo account received thousands of new fans in his rise to fame. At time of writing, his Weibo page reached little over 400,000 followers.
How Wu’s career will further develop is hard to say. However, when Wu is asked what he will do when his popularity has faded away, he coolly answers: “I’ll just work.”
By Gabi Verberg
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China Memes & Viral
Love at First Sight? Man Attempts to Sue Woman after Instant Crush at Beijing Bookstore
After waiting for 50 days to see her again, the man decided to sue a woman he met at a bookstore to trace her down.
When a man named Sun saw a young woman during a visit to the Wangfujing bookstore in Beijing, it was love at first sight for him.
He first saw the woman in the afternoon of September 24th in the well-known bookstore, where she was wearing a yellow hoodie and “skin-colored stockings.” The two allegedly had prolonged eye contact, which is when he realized he had a special connection with her, according to Chinese news platform Pear Beijing.
Within no time, he lost sight of the girl, and was not able to find her again. Without knowing her name, age, or other details, the search for the woman was virtually impossible.
But Sun was reportedly so desperate to see the young lady again, that he went back to the store in the fifty following days to wait for her. Since the man went to the bookstore instead of to work, he had to borrow money from friends and family to sustain a living.
According to Chinese media, Sun has waited in the store all those days from 11 in the morning to 7 in the evening.
On December 10th, the man went down to the local Dongcheng courthouse in order to sue the woman, hoping to find her through the legal system.
According to the petition for appeal, the man sought to sue the woman for emotional distress. By tracing her down through the legal system, he further hoped to get some answers that would “solve his mental anguish.”
The Dongcheng courthouse, however, has advised the man not to sue the woman, and his case was not accepted. Sun now says he will think of another way to find the woman – whom he thinks might be the love of his life, – telling reporters that he will “figure out other ways if the normal way is not working.”
On Weibo, Sun’s case has received a lot of attention today. One Toutiao News post dedicated to the story received almost 30,000 shares and over 40,000 comments at the time of writing.
More than 170 million people have now viewed the Weibo hastag “Man Attempts to Sue the Person He’s Looking for” (#男子欲起诉寻人#).
Many netizens think there is nothing romantic about this story. Instead, they label Sun as a “maniac” and are worried about the safety of the girl if he were to find her. One Weibo user writes: “This is sexual harassment, not LOVE. He is a stalker, and totally has no respect for the girl. The girl should stay far away from him.”
Others suggest that reporters should find out more about the man and his situation. In the papers he prepared for court, which were readable in the Pear Video report of the case, he wrote down that he “possibly lost the love of life, as well as the meaning of life,” leading to some worrying about the man’s mental well-being.
In 2016, another bizarre love story also went trending on Chinese social media, involving a Dutchman who waited for over ten days at Changsha airport in hopes of meeting his online Chinese girlfriend – who failed to show up. After eating nothing but instant noodles and sleeping on airport benches, the man was even admitted to the local hospital due to physical exhaustion.
The Dutchman waited ten days for his “online girlfriend” to show up.
For that Dutchman, the story unexpectedly took a happy turn when it was widely reported in Chinese media. It turned out that due to poor communication, the ‘online girlfriend’ did not know the Dutchman was waiting for her, and still wished to pursue a romantic relationship with him.
As for Sun, if it were up to the people in the social media comments sections, he will never find his “true love” again. “Girl, if you see this Weibo post, please remember how this guy looks, and stay far, far away from him,” one popular blogger writes.
By Manya Koetse and Wendy Huang
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©2018 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com
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