DP: Trending in Beijing: Mascot Reactions, Falling Second-Hand Property Prices, and Impressive Students' Exhibition

Trending in Beijing: Olympic Mascot Reactions, Falling Property Prices, and a Student Exhibition

The Beijingers | Sep 21, 2019 5:00 pm | Add a comment | 787 reads

The fun, the strange, and the what-on-earth-is-this? Trending in Beijing is a wrap-up of top stories in Beijing as told by the trending hashtags, local press, and general power of the internet.

How about those mascots?

Now that the official 2022 Winter Olympics Mascots have been unveiled and the discussion over the unusual spelling of their names (I say Dwen Dwen you say Dun Dun) has died down, it's time to turn to see what the Chinese Internet thinks of the characters we won't be able to avoid for the next three years.

It's fair to say that the vast majority of comments include a hearty "可爱" (cute). Other popular reactions turn to fat-shaming Dwen Dwen or commenting on how the icy panda should probably invest in a warmer coat. Dwen Dwen's design is also ripe for intrepid Photoshoppers to replace his face with whatever they do so wish, so expect an avalanche of creative stickers in the next few months.

It was also revealed that Dwen Dwen was picked from among 5,800 submissions, leading many to imagine what the discarded pile of mascots looked like. While the space panda is undoubtedly a cute look, its selection is a safe play, to say the least. "Our national treasure is very much like a brick – you can put it wherever you need it," wrote one cynical Weibo user, referring to, ahem, a slight oversaturation of panda-themed things in China.

Another user noted that the color scheme of Rhon Rhon, the snowy lantern and mascot for the Paralympic Games, made it look like the traditional Chinese dish of scrambled egg and tomatoes.

Watch as netizens do their worst under #北京冬奥会吉祥物冰墩墩# (Beijing's Winter Olympic mascot, Bing Dwen Dwen).

Prices for secondhand properties in Beijing drop

Beijingers are notorious for their complaints about sky-rocketing property prices in the city. After this 13sqm apartment without electricity or running water sold for RMB 3.6 million, we say they have a full right to.

While the prices of new apartments are still on the up, rising 4.2 percent year-on-year in August alone, secondhand housing prices have dropped 0.2 percent year-on-year. A more significant fall of 11 percent was recorded in February this year. Back then, one square meter in a secondhand apartment would set you back almost RMB 60,000.

Netizens are analyzing the latest report under #北京二手房价格下降# (Secondhand house prices in Beijing are falling).

Students impress the Internet with a mural exhibition

Students of Beijing 1st Middle School have taken social media by storm after a video tour of their incredibly professional exhibition and artwork went viral.

The works are the result of guidance by a Mr. Zeng Xu (曾旭), an art teacher at the school, who began offering an elective course on traditional Chinese mural painting. All of the artwork exhibited is made by students, and according to the teacher took them between one to two years to make.

The hashtag #北京一中学开壁画课# (Beijing 1st Middle School has a mural painting class) currently has over 6.2 million followers, with many of the users admiring the teacher's effort to integrate traditional Chinese arts into the curriculum. "These paintings are very good – you (the students) may be able to get a gig going to the Forbidden City to repair cultural relics," wrote one user.

Others noticed that the teacher himself looks a bit like the characters in the murals, leading some to speculate that he may have served as a real-life inspiration for the students' paintings.