Trending in Beijing: Virus-shaped hailstones, Toilet Infection, Bao'an Caught in the Act

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.

Corona-shaped hailstones rain down on Beijing

Beijing-based netizens were aghast as the gods above seemingly mocked their struggles against the city's recent outbreak of COVID-19 by chucking down balls of ice closely resembling the virus.

The spiky hailstones fell upon the mountainous Mentougou district in west Beijing as well as Changping in the north around 10pm on Jun 25. Netizens posted their pictures of the hail with hashtag ‘Beijing Hail’ #北京冰雹#.

“This is hail?“ asked one commenter. “It looks more like a concealed weapon."

“They are so big,” observed another. “Your body wouldn’t be able to take it if one hit you.”

It’s far from the first time that hail has plagued Beijing in the summer, and even the more central parts of the city have suffered heavenly ice fall in recent years. However, it’s hard to overlook the symbolic slap in the face that ice shaped like the virus causing a global pandemic seems to represent.

Couple catches COVID from a toilet

A couple who operate a bibimbap stall in a Tiankelong supermarket were confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 after an infected person visited the building. The means of infection? According to the local CDC, the woman likely contracted the disease after visiting the building’s public toilet.

Tracking the story with the hashtag ‘A Beijing couple is infected by a public toilet’ #北京一对确诊夫妻在公厕被感染#, commenters shared a mix of responses, from skepticism to “I told you so.”

“It’s not the first time that there has been a call to keep the sewage flowing in this building,” wrote one user.

Another complained of the conclusion, “How can you be so sure that she caught it from the toilet? Did she not touch a single thing in the whole rest of the building?”

Quipped one indelicate user, “You won’t dare to write in your headline that the couple contracted the virus after they dipped their butts into a pile of turds.”

Bao’an caught relieving himself at the Temple of Heaven

We'd like to believe that only the most elite bao’an are hired to keep the peace inside the city’s most-visited attractions, but an occurrence on Jun 29 might suggest otherwise. On that day, a guard in the Temple of Heaven outside the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests was filmed urinating in broad daylight.

As the video began to go viral under the hashtag ‘Guard pees at gate of Temple of Heaven Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests’ #保安在天坛祈年殿门口小便#, park authorities were quick to respond, saying that, if true, they would address the situation with the utmost seriousness.

As you might expect, the action was roundly condemned by netizens, although one commenter did find a silver lining, suggesting “At least we know that the plants at the Temple of Heaven are well fertilized with nitrogen.”

The park later issued a statement saying there were no clear signs of urine outside of the gate, but authorities would continue to investigate.

READ: Trending in Beijing: Pangolin Dropped From TCM and the Baijiu-Fueled Punch That Downed a Plane

Images: Weibo