Trending in Beijing: Bookstore Stalkers, Fluent Foreigners, and Granny Love
The fun, the strange, and the what-on-earth-is-this: a wrap-up of top stories in Beijing as told by the trending hashtags, local press, and general power of the internet.
1) A Man Awaits the Return of His Loved One in a Bookstore
Finding the love of his life has truly backfired for this man. During a recent visit to a Beijing bookstore, he happened to glance a woman and fall head over heels in love at first sight. Hoping to see her again and inform her of his deep and unwavering feelings of devotion, he has been lurking in the same bookstore for the last 50 days, skipping work in order to do so. Having so far been left in the lurch, he decided to go as far as to sue the mysterious lady for emotional distress in an attempt to glean her true identity, making this possibly the saddest story of the year. Netizens are following the love/harassment story under #男子起诉一见钟情女孩# (a man sues his love from the first sight).
2) Foreigners Who Have Studied Chinese for Too Long
Other Weibo users have been raving about foreigners who are able to speak immaculate Chinese, not only ogling their incredible verbosity but also what the prolonged study has done to their brains. One post tagged #学中文太久之后的外国人# (foreigners who have studied Chinese for too long), one American expat said that instead of now answering a question with "Yes, I can" he now simply says "can," mirroring the same simplified structure in Chinese. A Japanese woman claimed that speaking Mandarin made her more of a 女强人 (strong woman). She explains that while speaking Japanese she tends to be quite humble and thinks everything through very carefully but after learning Chinese has become much more straightforward.
3) The Grandaughter Who Sends Daily Vegetables to Her Grandma
'Tis the season of giving but for this kindhearted granddaughter, giving is an everyday act. The lady in question lives in Beijing, which gave her the sense of not being adequately able to take care of her 80-year-old grandmother, who lives in Shanghai. Therefore, the caring woman decided to buy vegetables online and have them delivered to her grandmother's door every day. The touching photo of the package (pictured above) was posted by a courier who often delivers the vegetables. The woman carefully picks the contents so as to best suit her gran's diet, who suffers from colon cancer. Netizens were moved by this story and urged each other to visit their grandmothers more. "They need that the most," claimed one user. However, the most popular comment has taken a cynical bent, saying, "This is how advertisements now work?"
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Images: Weibo
