Trending in Beijing: Uniqlo Frenzy, World Renowned Pianist Lang Lang Marries, and GoT Doppelgangers

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.

Shoppers go wild over Uniqlo and Kaws collaboration

Have you ever fought with another adult over a RMB 99 T-shirt? No? Good job, you're still a sane person. Unlike the hoards of Chinese fashionistas who lost their collective shit over the Uniqlo collaboration with an American artist Kaws which was released on June 3. The collection sold out online in less than a minute and the products are now being resold for anywhere between RMB 200 to RMB 500 on private marketplaces.

In videos circulated online, shoppers are seen crawling under the store gate even before it was fully open, grabbing stacks of t-shirts, dismantling mannequins to literally take the shirts off their backs, and even getting into fistfights with one another.

The hashtag #全员kaws# (everybody kaws) now has over 4.7 hundred million readers, few of whom understand what the fuss is all about in the first place. As some users have pointed out, it is not even the first time Uniqlo has collaborated with Kaws. Furthermore, Uniqlo is not famous for creating limited edition clothes, so the pillaged shelves are likely to be re-stocked pretty soon.

Famous Chinese pianist Lang Lang marries

Chinese piano prodigy and national treasure Lang Lang married a 24-year-old Korean-German pianist Gina Alice Redlinger in Paris, France on June 2. The couple met a few years ago in Berlin. 

The wedding reception started in a private apartment overlooking the Arc de Triumph in central Paris and was followed with a lavish afterparty at the Palace of Versailles. Lang Lang is the first ever Chinese pianist to play with the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, and all major American orchestras. His wife, Redlinger, started her solo carrier at age 8 and graduated from Hochschule fur Musik und Theater Hamburg, one of the most prestigious academies of music in Germany.

The wedding banquet was attended by many celebrity couples, including John Legend and his wife Chrissy Teigen; Bianca Jagger; the Chinese Ambassador to France Zhai Jun; and Taiwanese singer and songwriter Jay Chou. In fact, Chou and his wife Hannah Quinlivan got so much social media attention that one of the most liked comments (which accumulated more than 21,000 likes) read: Did Jay Chou and Lang Lang get married? Netizens are wishing newlyweds good luck under #郎朗结婚# (Lang Lang wedding).

Korean drama Arthdal Chronicles makes waves for looking just like GoT

And just when you thought the Game of Thrones drama had died down, the Arthdal Chronicles, a Korean TV drama lights it all up again. The show in question has come onto the radar of Chinese netizens due to an uncanny similarity to Game of Thrones. We must admit that while some of the characters may be a little bit of a stretch, others bear an uncanny similarity to the beloved show.  

Not convinced? The show also has its own iron throne and a Great Black Wall. While the netizens are having fun pointing out the obvious similarities, the crew and fans are denying such allegations, claiming that for a show of such budget (USD 33.8 million), they have no need to copy anything. Follow all the fun on Weibo under #阿斯达编年史演员造型# (Arthdal Chronicles actors). 

READ: The Beijinger Blog Reaches 20,000 Posts! Now Let Us Look Back to Its Humble Beginnings

Images: Weibo