🔥 China Trend Watch (Week 21–22 | 2026) Part of Eye on Digital China by Manya Koetse, China Trend Watch is an overview of what’s trending and being discussed on Chinese social media.

In this edition:

• China’s upcoming Taiwan reunification blockbuster
• 8 Quick Scrolls to Know
• The Liushenyu coal mine disaster exposes hidden tunnels, “yin-yang maps,” and systemic safety failures
• A controversial prison film starring a convicted killer is pulled from cinemas
• China announces major hukou reforms
• China’s Top 5 Rising Books
• Why everyone is saying: “I genuinely did feel uncomfortable”

Chinese cinema is “riding the winds of history.”[1] While the biggest films of the 2025 summer movie season focused on the Second Sino-Japanese War, this year, it is China’s military campaign to take Taiwan that is heading to the big screen.

The movie Battle of Penghu (澎湖海战), scheduled to premiere in mainland China on July 25, is a state-backed historical epic centered on the major naval battle that ultimately led to the Qing conquest of Taiwan.

Over the past week, the film held its first full preview screenings, released its theatrical trailer, unveiled a series of posters, and triggered online discussions.

The film’s narrative and promotional slogans make clear that its timing is neither coincidental nor merely historical. The movie is deeply entangled with contemporary cross-strait politics and Beijing’s message that unification with Taiwan is inevitable and “unstoppable.”

The “Battle of Penghu”, also known as the Battle of the Pescadores, took place in 1683, when Qing dynasty admiral Shi Lang (施琅) defeated the forces of the Zheng regime in Taiwan, which was basically the last big Ming loyalist center after Beijing had already fallen in 1644. Shi Lang’s victory at sea led to the Zheng regime’s surrender and the Qing annexation of Taiwan, formalized in 1684 when Taiwan was incorporated as a prefecture of Fujian province.

Over the past decade, China has increasingly fused Hollywood-style commercial filmmaking with state propaganda goals. Although Xi-era patriotic blockbusters had appeared earlier, the 2021 Korean War epic The Battle at Lake Changjin marked a turning point: it showed that a visually spectacular film could become both a massive commercial success and an effective vehicle for state messaging.

Beyond serving as spectacular propaganda and a nationalist boost, The Battle at Lake Changjin also became a platform for promoting a new narrative about China’s role in the Korean War. The film helped breathe new life into these narratives among younger Chinese moviegoers, who bought merchandise, checked in online while watching the film, and even posted photos of themselves eating frozen potatoes — echoing scenes from the movie based on the real experiences of soldiers on the battlefield.

The victory the Chinese soldiers achieved on the battlefield in Korea against the Americans was a reminder of Chinese courage and pride at a time of heightened Sino-American tensions.

Battle at Lake Changjin caused a real social media frenzy surrounding its merchandise and people eating frozen potatoes to share in the hardships felt by those on the battlefield.

Last year, similar dynamics unfolded when Dead to Rights (Nanjing Photo Studio, 南京照相馆) hit theaters, focusing on the Japanese invasion of Nanjing and the atrocities that followed. Together with Unit 731 and Dongji Island (东极岛), it formed part of a broader cinematic re-narration of the Sino-Japanese War (read more here).

The films were accompanied by a wider state media campaign emphasizing how China’s War of Resistance against Japan, as an integral part of World War II, represented China’s major contribution and sacrifice in the global fight against fascism, underscoring the country’s important role in shaping the postwar world order.

Now, this upcoming Taiwan-focused blockbuster seems to follow a similar playbook.

The movie is directed by award-winning Hong Kong filmmaker Cheang Pou-soi (郑保瑞). Wang Xueqi (王学圻), one of China’s most respected veteran actors, stars as Admiral Shi Lang, while the super-popular Jackson Yee (易烊千玺), the TFBOYS pop idol who turned into an acclaimed actor, plays the young Emperor Kangxi. Other major names starring in the movie include Zhao Liying (赵丽颖), one of China’s most renowned female stars, and Geng Le (耿乐), who also starred in Battle at Lake Changjin.

Promo posters for Battle at Penghu.

Besides the cast, the other details surrounding the production of the film are also impressive.

The crew reportedly spent 34 months in preparation, constructing 50 ancient warships, including twelve battleships of nearly 40 meters long, allegedly the largest historical naval replicas ever built in China. Most of them were destroyed during filming. We can expect some spectacular scenes.

Although this summer blockbuster appears to have the right formula for another Battle at Lake Changjin-like success, criticism is surfacing online.

Many netizens argue that the film should never have celebrated Admiral Shi Lang as its hero, and that it would have been more appropriate to focus on Zheng Chenggong (鄭成功, Koxinga) instead, since he is the one who expelled a foreign colonial power, the Dutch VOC, in 1662 and established the first Han Chinese governance on Taiwan. Due to this story of resistance against Western imperialism, many see Zheng Chenggong as the true hero.

💬 As one commenter writes: “Zheng Chenggong [Koxinga] drove out the Dutch colonizers and recovered Taiwan — what does that have to do with Shi Lang? Instead of making a film about Zheng Chenggong, they chose to make one about the traitor Shi Lang.”

Adding to this criticism, others wondered why a movie celebrating the Qing dynasty’s defeat of the Ming loyalist Zheng regime — framed by some netizens as “Manchu forces defeating Han Chinese” — should be treated as part of Chinese history worth celebrating.

Shi Lang’s backstory makes him a contested figure in Chinese history. Originally, he was a general under Koxinga until he switched allegiances and ultimately surrendered to the Qing, leading some critics to label him a traitor (“汉奸”) rather than a hero.

One relevant study by Ronald C. Po [2] into the historical commemoration of Shi Lang argues that Shi Lang’s image has been continuously reconstructed since the Qing dynasty to serve shifting political agendas.

In this case, Shi Lang is framed as the admiral who “unified” Taiwan with China, making him an important historical anchor for the one-China narrative.

In the end, that’s what it’s all about — and the movie’s official tagline is clear about that: “What is isolated must return; what is divided must unite” (“孤悬必归、分疆必合”). Its trailer closes with the slogan “Unifying Taiwan is unstoppable” (“统一台湾，势不可挡”).

Whether Battle of Penghu will become as big a box office hit as Battle at Lake Changjin remains to be seen, but I doubt it, since we know that it’s putting reunification with Taiwan on mainland cinema screens this summer in a way many Chinese find flawed.

One critical reviewer, popular Weibo account @释不归, says:

💬 “The core historiographical flaw of Battle of Penghu does not lie in its ‘choice of the Qing dynasty’s perspective,’ but in its systematic concealment through a ‘unification narrative’ (统一叙事) that forcibly whitewashes a history full of moral grey zones into a binary confrontation between justice and evil.”

For this reason, some say they will boycott the film, while others are celebrating it as a blockbuster promoting unification with Taiwan. Either way, it promises to spark a debate worth watching, and it’s one I’ll certainly be following this summer 👀🍿. I will report back to you after I’ve seen it!

There’s a lot more to catch up on, so keep reading to see which stories dominated online conversations in China over the past two weeks.

Quick Scrolls

• 🌧️ Severe rainstorms and extreme weather triggered flash floods in Chongqing’s Yongchuan District, leaving nine people dead and eleven missing.
• 🏪 The “Father of the Convenience Store,” 7-Eleven founder Toshifumi Suzuki (铃木敏文), is being remembered on Chinese social media following his passing in Tokyo at the age of 93. Netizens praised Suzuki for bringing 24-hour convenience culture to Asia and reshaping global retail.
• 🇷🇸 The first-ever China state visit by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić became a major talking point on social media, where many netizens refer to Vučić as “577” because his Chinese name sounds similar to “5-7-7” (五七七 wǔ qī qī). Vučić said he was aware of the nickname and perfectly happy being “577.”
• 🎬 The Chaoshan-dialect film Letters to Grandma (阿嬷的情书) surpassed 10 billion yuan ($1.38 billion) at the box office within 25 days. With a 9.1 rating on Douban, the underdog production has become one of the biggest surprise hits of 2026, achieving massive success without major stars or blockbuster budgets.
• 🏛️ Wuhan University recently opened its campus to the public without requiring reservations. Although not everyone is happy about visitors roaming the grounds and taking photos, the move has sparked broader discussions about how Chinese university campuses, as important cultural and public spaces, should be made more accessible.
• 🚀 After nearly seven months in orbit, the Shenzhou-21 crew welcomed the incoming Shenzhou-23 astronauts aboard Tiangong. The docking marked the eighth “space meetup” in Chinese spaceflight history and the first time an astronaut from Hong Kong entered the space station.
• 🛵 Olympic swimmer Sun Yang (孙杨) went viral after grabbing his phone during a TV interview to order food delivery. One related Weibo hashtag — “Sun Yang suddenly starts ordering food during interview” (#孙杨采访时突然开始点餐) — received over 61 million views. Some commenters described him as a typical post-90s-generation personality who simply does whatever he feels like.
• ☠️ One of China’s most sensational corporate crime cases has come to an end. Xu Yao (许垚), former CEO of Santi Universe, the company holding the rights to the hugely successful The Three-Body Problem IP, was executed on May 21, two years after being convicted of poisoning gaming tycoon Lin Qi in 2020. Xu used a deadly mix of pufferfish toxin and amatoxin and also poisoned four other colleagues with methylmercury.

 

The Week’s Key Stories

Hidden Back Doors, Yin-Yang Maps: The Liushenyu Coal Mine Disaster

The catastrophic gas explosion at the Liushenyu Coal Mine (留神峪煤矿) in Qinyuan County, Shanxi, has dominated Chinese news discussions over the past week. The explosion, which occurred on the evening of May 22, killed at least 82 people, while 123 others were hospitalized with injuries of varying severity. Two people remain missing.

This is the worst coal mine incident in China since 2009, when an explosion at the Xinxing coal mine (新兴煤矿) in Heilongjiang killed 108 people.

Soon after the incident in Qinyuan, discussions began focusing on safety violations, especially after the reported numbers failed to add up. At the time of the explosion, 247 workers were reportedly underground, yet the company operating the mine, Tongzhou Group, had recorded only 124 names in the entry log, meaning around 123 workers had entered the mine without following required protocols.

During rescue operations, emergency workers soon discovered that the mine’s official maps did not match the actual underground layout. Tongzhou Group had apparently been operating with so-called “yin-yang maps” (阴阳图纸): two versions of the mine plan — one official version shown to inspectors, and another real version used in practice.

In a May 26 Xinhua report, it was revealed that the mine even had camouflage doors (假门) — constructed from steel mesh wire and woven sacking to resemble tunnel rock walls — to conceal unauthorized tunnels from safety inspectors. When inspectors arrived, workers inside would reportedly seal the door and smear it with coal dust to make it indistinguishable from the surrounding tunnel walls.

In this way, the mine could maximize output and produce extra coal outside official quotas without reporting it. But it also meant these hidden areas fell outside formal oversight and safety protocols, which is why they are referred to as “invisible bombs” (隐形炸弹) within the mining system: gas could accumulate due to insufficient ventilation.

The mine had already been listed in 2024 by China’s mine safety regulator as a site with “serious hazards.”

On social media, the disaster has sparked anger over systemic failures surrounding a mine disaster many viewed as preventable, and over management’s apparent disregard for the lives and safety of its contracted workers, who already occupy some of the most dangerous and lowest-status positions in China’s labor market.

In multiple ways, the Liushenyu Coal Mine disaster shows similarities to the recent Liuyang fireworks factory explosion, which also occurred in May.

Although the two disasters took place in very different industries and locations, they reveal a similar pattern: there had been explicit prior warnings in official records that went unaddressed; inspections identified problems but failed to halt production; hidden production conditions/mechanisms were involved; and both disasters killed dozens of vulnerable migrant workers employed through informal labor arrangements.

One comment pretty much rounds up a general sentiment:

💬 “For the sake of enormous profits, they completely disregarded safety and basic human morality, and showed utter contempt for human life, which is an unforgivable crime! The leadership must receive the death penalty!”

Award-Winning Prison Film Starring Convicted Killer Pulled in China

A Chinese film that was supposed to premiere in mainland cinemas on May 30 has backfired and been pulled following days of controversy and intense online discussion.

The movie, titled Mom from Prison (监狱来的妈妈) in Chinese and using the English title Her Heart Beats in Its Cage, was marketed as a domestic violence film “based on a true story,” with the convicted killer in the movie played by the actual person involved — Zhao Xiaohong (赵箫泓).

Zhao was sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing her husband in 2009 during a domestic violence incident in which she stabbed him with a fruit knife.

Director Qin Xiaoyu (秦晓宇) and famous TV host and producer Wang Han (汪涵) then developed a film around Zhao’s story, presenting it as a sympathetic anti-domestic violence narrative about a woman who suffered long-term abuse, finally struck back, accidentally killed her husband, and later tried to repair her relationship with her son while in prison.

Although the film received approval to be screened in China and performed well at various foreign film festivals, including the San Sebastián International Film Festival, everything fell apart when Chinese netizens collectively criticized the gap between the movie’s narrative and the legal realities of the case. How “true” was this story if the killing was never legally ruled as self-defense, and if the judgment explicitly stated that no domestic abuse had been recognized or evidenced in the case?

Beyond that, many pointed out that Zhao was still formally serving restrictions tied to her prison sentence while participating in a commercial film production, raising questions about how a convicted killer could end up starring in a feature film about her own crime.

Moreover, when the project began in 2019, the production team reportedly applied for permission to film inside prisons under the category of a “public-interest correctional education documentary” (公益教育改造纪录片), which many commenters — including those in this Zhihu thread — considered deceptive.

Although domestic violence has received increasing public attention and sympathy in China in recent years, many argued that this particular project crossed an ethical line and used “feminist-coded content” (女权话题) to glamorize the story of a convicted killer.

“If they had simply used another actress and treated the story as artistic adaptation, perhaps things would never have become this serious,” one Zhihu commenter wrote.

Following the overwhelmingly negative public reaction, Zhao Xiaohong’s social media accounts were silenced, while the film bureau announced that screenings had been suspended due to public complaints and an ongoing investigation. Wang Han also apologized for becoming involved in the project without properly researching its background and content, and announced he had cut ties with the film.

This is one movie that definitely won’t be getting a sequel.

Hukou Reform Announced: Public Services Will Now “Follow the Person”

China’s Household Registration System won’t be as important anymore – that’s the message that was reiterated across Chinese social media by state media, becoming top news on Weibo, Toutiao, and Baidu News on May 27 (#户口以后没那么重要了#)

This comes after China’s State Council, for the very first time, has issued a national-level directive to decouple basic public services from household registration (户口, hùkǒu).

The hukou or ‘household registration’ system is China’s registered permanent residence policy that has been in place in China since 1958. A hukou is assigned at birth and basically works like an official place-based ID. China’s hukou system, among others, separates rural and urban citizens and is essential for access to social services, including education and healthcare.

Because the hukou is tied to one’s registered place of origin rather than to an actual place of residence, it creates problems for the estimated 250 million people in China who have moved elsewhere to live and work. When their children’s access to public schools is closed off, many families choose to leave children behind in their native, more rural areas to live with grandparents or other caregivers. These “leftover children” are just one of many broader problems of urban-rural inequality behind the hukou system, particularly regarding access to public benefits and healthcare.

In this new policy, filed on May 18 and presented at a May 26 press conference, social services, basic benefits, and protections will follow the person, not the hukou. That means that as long as a person resides in and is legally employed in a place, has registered a residence permit, and has paid social insurance, they are entitled to equal access to basic public services as local hukou holders.

In the aftermath of the announcement, social media commenters seem cautiously positive yet skeptical, and still have many questions about the practicalities and the extent to which this will actually change things.

One important question revolves around the gaokao (高考) system – China’s national college entrance exam. Traditionally, one’s hukou affects where a child can go to school and where they can take the gaokao. If this were to change, it would essentially change the rules of the playbook that matters most to many students and their families, as it’s the main doorway to university in China, and university access is tied to later life and career chances.

Some people also express anxiety about the knock-on effects on urban property markets and school enrollment: they think cities like Beijing or Shanghai will get even more crowded in the near future. Who knows how many people will rush there to work now for their kids’ sake?

The optimism about the policy does shimmer through most comments, like one person writing:

💬 “It’s important to be realistic: while the policy lowers the barriers, high-quality public resources remain limited. Achieving complete equality will still take time. But at least the overall direction has changed. Treatment is no longer determined by a piece of paper called a hukou. If we work hard and build our lives in a city, we should be able to enjoy the corresponding protections and services there. And that is the most meaningful source of security this policy provides.”

What China’s Reading

Top 5 Rising Books in China This Week

📚1. Work, Consumerism and the New Poor by Zygmunt Bauman | 工作、消费主义和新穷人

Work, Consumerism and the New Poor is rising on China’s popular book and reading charts this week. The 1998 work by Polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman (translated into Chinese in 2021) argues that poverty in consumer society is defined not by joblessness but by the inability to participate in consumption — that the “new poor” are marked not by exclusion from work but by exclusion from the marketplace of goods and identities. A relevant topic for Chinese social media users in 2026, with issues like youth unemployment and middle-class downward mobility popping up in all kinds of discussions nowadays. 🔗 Link to the book in English / in Chinese.

📚2. The Protagonist by Chen Yan | 主角

The Protagonist (主角) is a long novel by Chen Yan (陈彦) that previously won China’s most prestigious literary fiction award, the Mao Dun Literature Prize, and became one of the top titles on WeChat’s reading platform this week. That is no coincidence: the renewed attention follows the release of the CCTV/Tencent Video television adaptation starring Zhang Jiayi (张嘉益) and Liu Haocun (刘浩存). The novel tells the story of female Qinqiang opera performer Yi Qine and follows more than four decades of her life on and off the stage amid major personal, social, and national transformations. 🔗 Link to Chinese edition.

📚 3. The Second Chief by Huang Xiaoyang | 二号首长

The Second Chief (二号首长) is a Chinese political novel by Huang Xiaoyang, which was originally published in 2011 and recently reissued. It follows the protagonist, Tang Xiaozhou, a veteran journalist from Fudan University who is at a low point in his life when he is appointed as the personal secretary to a new provincial party secretary, Zhao Deliang. Although the book offers a (fictional) glimpse into Chinese provincial politics, some social media users say it’s more like a guide to navigating the workplace and life. 🔗 Link to Chinese version.

📚 4. Fortunate That You All Comfort My Life | 幸得诸君慰平生

“Fortunate to Have You All Comfort My Life” is a collection of warm, light, and easy-to-read essays by the author writing under the pen name “Before the Storms in the Old Garden” (故园风雨前). Originally published in 2022, the book belongs to the popular “slow life” literary genre and focuses on small everyday details, family, flowers, friendship, and fleeting encounters that add warmth, meaning, and vividness to ordinary life. 🔗 Link to Chinese version.

📚5. The Klein Bottle by Okajima Futari | 克莱因壶

The Klein Bottle is a 1989 Japanese mystery novel by the duo Okajima Futari (冈岛二人) was ahead of its time in telling the story of a writer who signs up to test an experimental VR game and gradually loses the ability to distinguish virtual experiences from reality, as people around him begin to disappear or deny shared memories. The book’s renewed popularity in China lately is largely driven by social media discussions about the increasingly murky boundaries between simulated and real experiences in the AI era. 🔗 Link to Chinese version.
 

The Word of the Week

“I genuinely did feel uncomfortable” 我想说当确实不舒服

Everyone and their cousin has been talking about Wang Hedi (王鹤棣), aka Dylan Wang, over the past week. The Chinese actor recently appeared in the celebrity reality show Dear Inn (亲爱的客栈), in which celebrities run a guesthouse together. Wang served as the manager, while his former Meteor Garden (流星花园) co-star Shen Yue (沈月) was also part of the cast.

During the final episode, the celebrities handed out playful awards to each other. Wang received the “Best You’re Just Wang Hedi Award” (“最佳你只是个王鹤底奖”), where the “Di” (棣) character from his real name was replaced with the similarly pronounced character 底, meaning “bottom.”

Many viewers felt the “funny” reward wasn’t actually so funny, especially after rumors surfaced that the cast members had a separate group chat without Wang in it. Fans felt he was being purposely excluded and mocked.

As discussions escalated online, Wang responded on Weibo, writing:

“At the time I thought I was just being oversensitive, but after reading everyone’s analysis for a whole day, I want to say that I genuinely did feel uncomfortable back then.”

That response only made the situation blow up. Shen Yue later issued a public apology, explaining that “You’re just Wang Hedi” had been meant as an inside joke among the cast, encouraging Wang to step down from his manager role and relax into being himself again. But by then, the phrase had already taken on a life of its own online.

By now, “I genuinely did feel uncomfortable back then” has become a meme for admitting that something actually bothered you, even if it initially seemed too trivial to mention and only started nagging at you later.

It is now being used in completely unrelated contexts, and “At the time I thought I was just being oversensitive… I want to say that I genuinely did feel uncomfortable back then.”
(“当时以为是我敏感了……我想说当时确实不舒服”) has become a template for expressing all kinds of grievances and annoyances about things that happened in the past.

That’s a wrap, have a great weekend!

Best,

Manya

[1] “天下大s，乘风而来” is the slogan on the themed teaser poster of Battle of Penghu (澎湖海战》

[2] Ronald C. Po, “Hero or Villain? The Evolving Legacy of Shi Lang in China and Taiwan,” Modern Asian Studies 53, no. 5 (2019), https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X17000737.

By Manya Koetse
(follow on X, LinkedIn, or Instagram)

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In this China Trend Watch edition:

– AI actors vs human storytelling
– China’s deadly fireworks disaster
– Chengdu car attack controversy
– A blogger tracked down over pink river water
– The $1,900 Labubu fridge
– “Micro-vacations” & more

Everything seems to be about AI these days. Especially in China, where AI has permeated so many industries that it’s simply become part of the daily conversation.

Over the “Golden Week” holiday, Hangzhou deployed its first smart-robot traffic police teams. Demand for Huawei’s Ascend 950 AI chips surged following the release of DeepSeek’s V4 model (designed to run on the Huawei hardware). Across sectors, Chinese companies are racing to integrate AI into their factories, vehicles, and everyday services.

In recent weeks, AI’s role in China’s entertainment industry has particularly sparked intense discussion.

In late April, China’s major streaming platform iQIYI unveiled its “Nadou Pro” (拿豆Pro) AI film production initiative, alongside an “AI Artist Library” featuring dozens of actors whose likenesses could be used for AI-generated content. CEO Gong Yu (龚宇) suggested this could allow some actors to “appear” in up to 14 dramas per year, rather than only four.

The announcement immediately triggered online backlash. Some actors said they had not agreed to be included, while Gong’s remarks were widely seen as tone-deaf. Beyond concerns about consent, many netizens questioned the appeal: do audiences actually want 14 AI-generated performances more than a few real ones?

Although iQIYI later clarified that actors would remain involved in decision-making and that consent would be required for any AI scenes, skepticism remains strong. Many fear AI will gradually replace human actors and make films or dramas feel increasingly artificial.

Perhaps this is also one of the reasons why the “dark horse” hit of this May Day holiday box office season was a smaller local production with little pre-release buzz: Love Letters to Grandma (给阿嬷的情书, alternative English title: Dear You). With no big stars or special effects, the film stands out for its authenticity, featuring Chaoshan actors speaking their native dialect and telling an intimate, emotional story.

Still from Love Letters to Grandma (给阿嬷的情书, alternative English title: Dear You)

Set against the historical backdrop of the mass migration of southern Chinese to Southeast Asia, the film follows a grandson searching for the truth about his long-absent, supposedly wealthy grandfather, who continued sending letters and money home despite decades of separation from his family. (This type of family correspondence is called 潮汕僑批, Teochew Letters.)

What the grandson discovers in Thailand is unexpected: the letters his grandmother relied on for years were not sent by her husband, but by a stranger who chose to continue the correspondence on his behalf.

The film – that now scores a 9 on Douban – has been widely praised for its sincerity: the little details hidden in everyday life, the genuine emotions on the actor’s faces, and the fragile image of a grandmother reading love letters in the Chaoshan dialect.

As China moves deeper into the AI era, the film’s success highlights an interesting countercurrent: while major platforms push more toward AI-generated content, audiences are increasingly embracing stories that feel more human and emotionally real. There’s nothing artificial about that.

There’s much more trending news this week, so let’s dive into the other stories.

📌 PS: Also noteworthy this week: a Hangzhou court ruled that Chinese companies cannot fire workers simply because their jobs are replaced by AI. A 35-year-old tech worker sued his employer after being told his role would be handled by AI systems. The court was clear: adopting AI to reduce costs is not a lawful reason for dismissal.

Quick Scroll

• 🎬 China has approved the country’s first AI-generated film for theatrical release. The 90-minute sci-fi film Sanxingdui: Future Memories (三星堆：未来记忆) was made using tools from ByteDance.
• ❗ A 16-year-old female tourist died on May 3 after falling from a swing suspended above a waterfall at a scenic park in Sichuan, prompting discussions about safety regulations in China’s fast-growing adventure and thrill tourism sector.
• 🔬 Three Chinese female scientists simultaneously won awards at the 2026 Breakthrough Prize ceremony in Los Angeles — the ‘Oscars of science’ — for their exceptional contributions to mathematics.
• ✈️ Jackie Chan has been appointed as the new cultural ambassador for Chinese travel platform Trip.com, which has set a target of bringing 200 million foreign tourists to China over the next five years.
• 💬 Wechat has redesigned its app’s social “Moments” layout, with users calling it “ugly” and finding it hard to adapt.
• ☕ The Guangzhou Coffee Festival drew 37,000 visitors in one day, signaling strong consumer enthusiasm for cafe & coffee culture over this May Day holiday.
• 🍬 Most people are familiar with White Rabbit – that milky sticky white candy – and in China it’s a nostalgia staple. The brand has now opened a flagship store on Shanghai’s Nanjing Road, with many netizens being happy about how it brings back childhood memories.
• 🚗 After the 2026 Beijing Auto Show, commentators & car bloggers argue that many domestic high-end EVs are all look-alikes. As competition shifts from price wars to tech differentiation, this perceived lack of originality has drawn concern about brand identity and long-term innovation.
• 📱 American streamer IShowSpeed went viral after accidentally dropping his Huawei tri-fold phone into the ocean during a livestream. He had purchased the device last year during his famous China tour.

What Really Stood Out

Devastating Explosion in China’s “Fireworks Capital” Exposes Deep-Rooted Safety Risks

[#烟花爆炸#] [#花炮之都30万人的生计之困#]

Twenty-six people were killed and 61 injured in a major explosion at a fireworks plant in Guandu Township, Liuyang (Hunan Province). The incident exposes deeper structural safety risks in this so-called “fireworks capital of the world.”

The explosion occurred late in the afternoon of May 4 at Liuyang Huasheng Fireworks Manufacturing Company (浏阳华盛烟花制造有限公司), a mid-sized factory that had been operating for over 26 years. Shockwaves were reportedly felt up to 10 kilometers away, and windows shattered at distances of up to one kilometer from the blast site.

More than 480 emergency personnel were dispatched. A second round of searches on Tuesday raised the confirmed death toll to 26, though it remains unclear at this time how many people are still missing.

Beyond the tragic loss of life and damage, the explosion has far-reaching consequences for Liuyang, as all fireworks manufacturers have been ordered to halt production pending safety inspections and rectification.

As one of the world’s leading fireworks production hubs, the industry is the backbone of the local economy, with 431 factories directly employing around 300,000 people. A prolonged shutdown could leave thousands of workers and their families without income.

At the same time, safety issues at Liuyang factories have been a point of concern for at least two decades. The factory involved had been penalized earlier this year for storing industrial potassium perchlorate (高氯酸钾) together with phthalate compounds (苯二甲酸盐), materials that can trigger chain explosions from even minor sparks or static discharge.

While many commenters express sympathy for those affected, there is broad agreement that safety must come first. Many also note that such a major incident may have been preventable (investigations are ongoing) and should never happen again in Liuyang.

Chengdu Car Attack Sparks Anger Over “Accident” Framing

[#成都撞人#] [#成都男子驾车碰撞行人1死11伤#]

On the first day of the May Day holiday, a horrific hit-and-run incident at a busy Chengdu intersection triggered public frustration over the official framing of the incident.

At around 17:20, a 31-year-old male driver identified as Li (李某某) drove his sedan into a crosswalk full of pedestrians along Jiannan Avenue, striking multiple people. Videos from the scene showed at least five people lying motionless on the street. The driver then continued, hitting people at other locations, including a motorcycle and dragging one victim along the road.

The Li Laoshi X account reported that a bystander captured the driver exiting the vehicle while still holding a knife. According to official reports, the incident resulted in one death and 11 injuries. The driver was arrested at the scene and was reportedly not under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

In its statement, the Chengdu Public Security Bureau described the incident as a “road traffic accident” (道路交通事故), saying the driver had “collided with pedestrians” (与行人发生碰撞).

As videos were taken offline and some comment sections shut down, the wording of the official statement drew online criticism. Many argued this was not an “accident,” but a case of “intentionally endangering public safety” or “revenge against society” (bàofù shèhuì 报复社会).

“Bàofù shèhuì,” or “taking revenge on society,” is often used to describe violent incidents in China in which individuals with personal grievances or mental health issues commit extreme acts.

In such cases—whether car-ramming or knife attacks—online discussions are often tightly controlled, and detailed information about the incident tends to remain limited.

Earlier this year, there were two other fatal incidents in Chengdu involving cars ramming into crowds, involving a 38-year-old and a 19-year-old driver. In March 2024, a black Maybach sedan also drove into pedestrians in Chengdu, killing two. In that case, netizens likewise claimed the incident was suppressed and that there was little follow-up information.

The latest case is currently under investigation.

“This is a country where everything is always ‘under investigation,’” one Douyin commenter wrote sarcastically.

Chinese Environmental Blogger Harassed for Exposing Local Pollution

[#警方回应博主取样河水后被半夜敲门#] [#环保博主取样河水被半夜敲门#]

An environmental blogger known online as Dongbei Biaoge (东北彪哥, “Northeast Tough Guy,” 97k followers on Douyin) is at the center of a local scandal that has sparked nationwide discussion, shifting from conversations over pink water to a midnight knock on the door.

The story began with Dongbei Biaoge’s May 1 trip to Henan province after receiving tips from followers that river water in a Zhoukou waterway, next to farmland used by local residents, had turned bright pink and was covered in green algae. The blogger collected a sample of the pink water in Dancheng County, which is also home to a major industrial company.

Using a DIY rapid test kit, he recorded ammonia-nitrogen levels of approximately 5–10 mg/L, several times above national thresholds, and promised followers an update.

That next update, however, focused on something else: Dongbei Biaoge said he had been receiving nonstop harassing phone calls since posting his video. Despite using a friend’s out-of-province vehicle and not disclosing his location, unknown individuals were able to track him down. Around midnight / early morning on May 2, two men knocked on his hotel room door, asking to “have a talk” (谈一谈). He refused to open and called the police.

The following morning, local police confirmed by phone that the two men were township government officials and described the late-night visit as a “misunderstanding.”

Meanwhile, Dancheng County issued a statement saying it had launched an overnight investigation following online reports of possible pollution, claiming there was no evidence of industrial wastewater entering the water and announcing further investigation.

Online discussions have since shifted, with many focusing on how Dongbei Biaoge was tracked down, who leaked his personal details, and why his privacy was violated. Some commenters describe the situation as “terrifying,” seeing it as a worrying signal for others trying to expose local environmental issues.

On the Feed

The $1900 Labubu Mini Fridge

If you thought the Labubu hype had ended, I’m afraid to disappoint you. Labubu might start popping up in even more unexpected places now that Pop Mart, the company behind The Monsters series, has entered the world of home appliances.

First launch: the Labubu fridge, featuring original artwork by Hong Kong illustrator Kasing Lung. Two versions of the limited-edition mini fridge (just 999 units, each with a unique serial number) were officially priced at 5,999 yuan ($878). By April 29, nearly 38,000 preorders had been placed.

After selling out within seconds of the April 30 launch, the fridge quickly appeared on resale platforms for 12,999 yuan ($1,900).

Founder Wang Ning has said Pop Mart’s IP-driven small appliance line will expand to include electric kettles, coffee machines, electric toothbrushes, hair dryers, and more. Mass production is already underway, with a “China first, overseas later” rollout strategy. Are you ready for Labubu to move in with you?

Word of the Week

Go Slow, Stay Close: “Micro Vacations” (微度假 Wēi Dùjià) on the Rise in China

The word of the week is “Micro Vacation”: 微度假 Wēi Dùjià.

This year’s May Day holiday was extra long, making it the perfect time for travel. According to Chinese state media, the many trips made are proof of the country’s economic vitality.

But at the same time, economic pressures are showing in the way people are traveling: shorter distances and smaller budgets, combined with a quieter pace—very different from the busy city trips and do-and-see-as-much-as-possible travel boom following the immediate post-Covid years.

Many Chinese travelers are now gradually shifting away from traditional tourist hotspots toward more low-key, low-cost, and nearby destinations, where they spend 2–3 days to relax and slow down. These so-called “micro-vacations”—a term that has been around since about 2013—are gaining in popularity.

As part of this trend, farms and other rural destinations are seeing a sharp rise in visitors and revenue this year. People are going camping (often renting gear instead of buying it, called “travel light rentals” 轻装租用, qīngzhuāng zūyòng), enjoying outdoor cooking, fishing, and tea-picking, and bringing back fruit and vegetables in the trunk of their cars.

Featured image: consists of various images combined from China’s first AI film poster (三星堆：未来记忆); pink water scandal; Chengdu car attack; Liuyang explosion; and in the background, the AI artist library by IQIYI.

Eye on Digital China, by Manya Koetse, is co-published on Substack and What’s on Weibo. Both feature the same new content — so you can read and subscribe wherever you prefer. Substack offers community features, while What’s on Weibo provides full archive access.