2015 Year in Review: Explosions, Stabbings, and ... Uniqlo i.e. the Year in News

Below are the year's most shocking, interesting, and noteworthy news items from throughout 2015. Presented in no particular order these stories are certain to fill you with an immense sense of relief if you happened to have an uneventful year.

RELATED: The Beijinger's 2015 Year in Review

Five Arrested for Beijing Uniqlo Sex Romp
The first half of 2015 was relatively quiet, thankfully, but when a young couple leaked their Uniqlo sex video far and wide via social media we found a lighthearted story to laugh about, and a changing room to avoid.

Chinese/French Newlyweds Attacked in Random Stabbing Outside Uniqlo in Sanlitun, Wife Dies
Unfortunately, Uniqlo was also to be the site of the most shocking story among Beiing's expat community after a random knife attack left a newlywed couple's life in dismay; the Chinese wife succumbing to her injuries and her French husband injured. Not only did the incident occur at one of, if not the, most familiar areas among most of us in Beijing, it highlighted the ineffectual training of the surrounding "guards" and "policemen", and had us wondering what we can actually rely on them to do. Perhaps as a result of being abroad and somewhat oblivious and removed of local news, Beijing often feels like it is incredibly safe, but there were a number of stories that broke that illusion this year and reminded us that it pays to take extra precautions and to be aware, not just when crossing the road.
 

Flower Memorials Appear at Site of Sanlitun Stabbings; Security Clear Some Away
Memorial flowers appeared at the site of the stabbings on the following day, August 14, and while several batches were cleared away by security guards, well-wishers continued to place flowers at the scene into the evening.
 

Huge Explosion at Tianjin Shipping Yard, Multiple Dead and Hundreds Injured
Prior to the stabbings, however, there was a much more catastrophic turn of events in Tianjin, where a chemical fire was tackled by a poorly-trained fire crew, causing a massive explosion, which killed 173 and injured nearly 800. The ensuing fallout and lack of official information meant that we fretted about potential health consequences of the event and had us wondering just how afraid of bubbly puddles and thousands of dead fish we should be.

Reports of Sanlunche Driver Assaulting Single Females in Gulou
In November, another story that broke the illusion of safety was the report that a sanlunche driver had assaulted a number of women, including foreigners, in Gulou, waiting outside Dada and Temple in an apparent attempt to take advantage of drunk revelers. No word yet as to whether the driver has been apprehended or questioned with regards to the assaults.
 

Yashow Set to Close and then Reopens
We were particularly sad to see our ever-trustworthy bastion of tat, Yashow, get gutted and filled a number of shops that still peddle the same crap at five times the price. No longer could we head to central Sanlitun to pick up last-minute birthday presents, gifts for returning home, or a pair of knock-off sunglasses. We still haven't quite recovered from this hit to our love of all things fake and we resent having to take our addiction for cheap goods to Taobao. On the bright side, at least we have a Burger King there now. Too little, too late?
 

Tianzhaotian Accessories Wholesale Market to Close in December, Offers Incredible Discounts
Another favorite market of ours, Tianzhaotian Accessories Wholesale Market, announced its closure, receiving the same fate as Yashow and many other malls.

Tsinghua University Ranked World’s Number One for Engineering, Overtakes MIT
Another year, another accolade for our fair city: Beijing's own Tsinghua Unversity snagged a #1 slot in the 2016 Best Global Universities Rankings by US News and World Report, the first time in our recollection that a Chinese institution has been on the top rung.

Beijing Prepares Nearly 3,000 Portapotties for Parade
In preparation for the September 3 parade, nearly 3,000 temporary toilets were readied around Tian'anmen Square, an average of one per 24 people. Just remember that the next time you have to stare into the abyss of the perpetually-looped parade highlights video on the subway.
 

Malaysia Confirms Aircraft Debris Found on Reunion Island Is from MH370
Arguably our biggest story of last year, that of the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, came full circle when a piece of debris was found and confirmed to be from the plane, 17 months after it initially went missing.
 

Chai Jing's Environmental Documentary 'Under the Dome' Goes Off the Air
Former CCTV reporter Chai Jing went Al Gore and did some investigative journalism that her former employee would have been proud of, had it not been so negative and damning of the government's measures to tackle the country's pollution. The one-hour-and-45-minute presentation was created by Chai Jing when her daughter was when her daughter was with a tumor – before she was even born. Such a personal and accurate tale of China's pollution woes immediately drew the attention of the state and all mention of it was soon erased by the powers that be.
 

Beijing Issues First Ever Red Alert Over Air
But whereas the authorities were able to delete a video, they weren't able to delete the reality that many of us face day-to-day in Beijing, that of choking smog, and on December 7 we were presented with our first-ever Red Alert. Under standards set in March of this year, a Red Alert should be declared when the air quality is forecast to be over AQI 200 for three days or more, an event we had encountered numerous times after the policy was put in place but was enver acted upon, until now. The alert called for immediate odds/evens traffic restrictions, closures of factories and construction sites, and the shuttering of most schools. It was only 15 days until we encountered our second Red Alert, setting a precedent for how the government hopes to tackle the pollution and the threat of pollution-related illnesses come 2016.
 

We Call Bullsh*t: International Media Sensationalizing Beijing Pollution
In a news story of meta proportions we then called out Western media outlets for trivializing their coverage of China's pollution problems with silly headlines, quoting of dud data, and in some cases just getting facts plain-wrong: Beijing in Jiangsu province, anyone?
 

Fifth Generation RMB 100 Note Announced, Into Circulation this November
This November, new RMB 100 came into circulation with an improved design in order to fight fraud and the shocking amount of fake money in the system. The new bills appear more pink than their predecessor.
 

Spartan Sweetie Salad Saga Turns Sour
No, they were not protesting something important, like the Fall of Carthage, and this most certainly isn't Sparta. On July 23, approximately two dozen scantily clad "aliens" took to the streets of Sanlitun, wearing nothing more than thin straps of leather to hold back their bulbous pectorals, out on the prowl to promote shake salads from Sweetie Salad. Things didn't stay sweet for long though and a number of the Spartans were overpowered by police.
 

Survey Indicates Nearly 20 Percent of Chinese Middle School Students Smoke
Smoking was a hot topic this year after the implementation of Beijing's third smoking ban in June and new data showed how difficult it would be for the country to kick the habit, especially after a survey released less than a week later indicated that nearly 20 percent of Chinese middle school children smoke.

First Confirmed MERS Case in China: What is It and Why Should We Care?
With the announcement that MERS-CoV, a viral respiratory infection, had its first infected patient in May, people couldn't help but think of SARS. However, things were quickly brought under control, presumably after everyone took heed of the WHO's advice to avoid drinking raw camel milk or urine. Phew.

Beijing Scholar Criticizes Red Chinese-Character Banners Throughout City
A Beijing-based scholar took the unusual step to speak out and criticized the big Chinese-character slogans and banners seen at intersections and subway stations as “creating confusion about the city’s international image." Xu Lin, who is not only a scholar but also a member of the CPPCC National Committee and director-general of the Confucius Institute headquarters, emphasized that foreigners may not see Beijing for the international heaven that it really is because of the banners. On top of that, many of them are translated into English incorrectly, or awkwardly, and may create confusion. Wait, Chinglish signs around Beijing?! Never ...
 

The Den Shuts Down for Good
Longtime nightlife venue extraordinaire The Den finally waved the white flag, stating publicly on December 12 that they would no longer be open in their current location. News quickly followed that Tim's Texas Bar-B-Q had also met the same fate, with Beijing's People's Armed Police reclaiming large portions of property that they had leased to businesses, ignoring the fine print, only to then enforce the regulations. Mao Livehouse then told of their "99 percent chance" of closure by the end of December, apparently unrelated to the property struggles that The Den and Tim's had undergone.
 

Beijing Gets Its First Look at New Marks & Spencer Store
In some more positive news to finish off the year, everyone went a little bit batsh*t crazy (just like Nan would) over the news that British clothes and food retail giant Marks & Spencer were to finally open a flagship Beijing store. There is no way we were passing up the opportunity to be the first to see what they stocked and to prove such, were the first in line to buy mince pies, Percy Pigs, and squash. If you don't know what any of those things are then you're probably just an Anglophobe or at least will be until the hype dies down.

More stories by this author here.

Email: tomarnstein@thebeijinger.com
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