Trending in Beijing: Ducks Knocked Out and Goose Eggs Stolen

Joey Knotts, Contributing Editor | Aug 10, 2020 2:33 pm | Add a comment | 292 reads

Beijing Ducks knocked out of CBA finals

Both Beijing CBA teams had their chance at this year’s championship, but neither will emerge victorious now that the Beijing Shougang Ducks suffered a defeat at the hands of the Guangdong Southern Tigers.

With former NBA star Jeremy Lin on the team, the Ducks put up a much fairer fight than one would expect to see if a duck and tiger met in real life, but an 88-85 loss means that the season is over for Lin.

Nonetheless, his fans who followed the aftermath via the hashtag #广东队淘汰北京队# ‘Guangodng team eliminated Beijing team’ remained supportive and expressed gratitude for taking the team this far. As one popular Weibo comment read, “I’ve never doubted Lin as long as I’ve been a fan of his, and I just want to say that basketball fans should always support the players and teams they like and never vilify the ones they don’t like.” Now that’s sportsmanship.

Goose eggs missing from wildlife park

In other poultry news, Beijing Evening News divulged Sunday, Aug 9, that a witness had reported the burgling of a goose nest at Beijing Wildlife Park. The witness apparently scolded the offenders for nearly five minutes, but failed to dissuade them from taking eggs from the nest.

Netizens roundly condemned the thieves and called for them to be blacklisted from the park. One commenter, however, quipped with a facetious whataboutism, writing, “So what? In Shanghai a man beat a goose to take its eggs.”

Park authorities say they are confirming the case and reminded visitors not to disturb the wildlife in the park.

Celebrity fans revive print journalism

While the Beijinger has gone completely online, it might have behooved our print magazine to write more about celebrity news. That’s the lesson we’re taking from the recent move by Beijing Daily to take a break from their detailed analysis of inconsequential municipal press conferences and instead published an interview with actor and boyband vocalist Sean Xiao. The piece was so hot that the newspaper sold 30,000 copies in one day – an unheard-of figure for a local publication in today’s cyber-journalism world.

Netizens praised the frank dialogue of the interview, which touched on Xiao’s life and cultural outlook. The real takeaway, however, seemed to be the power of the so-called fan economy. As it turns out, celebrity sells.

Images: Weibo