Trending in Beijing: Liar Jailed and Food Toucher Scolded
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.
The trash bag challenge: How many can be taken at once?
As any youngster knows, the phrase “You can’t take it all in one trip” is more of a challenge than a warning.
Recently in Beijing’s Daxing district, an anti-COVID worker clad in a full-body protective suit was caught on video attempting to do just that: the worker somehow managed to wrap five large, full to the brim trash bags around their body, forming a circle of garbage that encircled them like a wide, yellow tutu pulled up to the chest as they carried them down multiple flights of stairs.
However, netizens did not seem to question the logic behind carrying all the bags at once, but rightly praised the worker for their hard work. “Not just working hard,” wrote one commenter, “but doing so in a mask, goggles, suit!”
You touch it you bought it (or: Seriously dude, there’s a pandemic going on...)
In what can only be described as a real dick move, a maskless man with a young child was caught on security camera refusing to purchase a steamed bun after touching it. Needless to say, this kind of behavior would be disturbing even if there weren’t an ongoing global pandemic.
In the video, the man approaches a steamed bun counter and begins to inquire about the products. With reckless audacity, he picks one of the buns up with his bare hand to show it to his son, who shakes his head, so the man places the bun back where it came from.
The woman working the counter was understandable dumbfounded and begins arguing with the man, pointing toward the camera to let him know that his behavior is being recorded. She then wraps up the bun he touched so that he can purchase it, but the man refuses and throws it back onto the steamer in anger.
Commenters were unkind to the man with quips like, “He doesn’t understand why anyone should care, since normally he eats straight from the trash can anyway.”
One devil’s advocate did write, “I think they’re both at fault because he only got mad because of the woman’s attitude.” This sentiment was immediately shut down by the much more popular response, “I’m pretty sure you feel that way because you’re the same type of person as the guy in the video.”
Woman sentenced to one year for lying about health condition
Concluding a case that dates back to March 2020, a woman has been sentenced to one year in prison for lying about her health condition in order to board a plane to China.
The woman had lived and worked in the US for a number of years, and had planned to return to China for a visit in March. Then, she began to develop a fever and went to be tested for COVID-19, but the results were too slow and did not come in time for her flight. Undeterred, she slipped a fever pill to hide her symptoms and boarded the plane anyway.
However, she was forced to come clean about her condition while on the flight. As a result, more than 60 people on the flight were isolated for observation. Later, the woman was convicted by a court for the crime of obstructing the prevention and control of an infectious disease.
Though justice was finally served, a top commenter on Weibo called into question the timing of the sentence, saying, “A whole year later... what use is that as a warning to others?” Other commenters expressed dismay at the fact that the woman was not fined, considering the amount of financial damage her actions caused.
READ: Trending in Beijing: Doggy Ice Cart and a Message from Neck Imparts
Images: Weibo
