Trending in Beijing: Netizens Report Difficulties in Returning to the Capital
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.
Beijingers stranded outside city limits, unable to buy return tickets
On Nov 1, traveling Beijingers took to Weibo to report a snag in their plans: they were unable to purchase return tickets to Beijing.
Several hundred netizens reported experiencing this issue on a thread, most claiming that they had not visited any high-risk areas and, in some cases, they had even obtained a negative COVID test within the past 48 hours. A number of affected users said they had come as close as Hebei or Tianjin to await being allowed re-entry.
Reporters investigating the issue found that the problem may occur when a ticketing platform's system is unable to confirm a ticket buyers' health code status.
The topic was quickly quashed on the site, replaced with a hashtag spread by local news outlets, including Beijing Evening News, urging readers not to return to Beijing for the time being if they cannot obtain a green code in the Beijing Health Kit.
What is a “single-gene positive case”?
Most trending topics recently have, of course, been centered on the latest COVID cases in the city. One topic in particular that netizens have been trying to wrap their heads around involves two individuals from Changping who had visited two schools in Chaoyang near the Northeast Fifth Ring Road, one of whom later tested positive for the virus, while the other obtained a “single gene positive” result. This has left everyone wondering what this exactly means.
As a representative from the Chaoyang CDC explains, “Single-gene positive means that one of the two gene fragments of the virus is present. A single-gene positive cannot confirm that the person is infected with COVID-19,” and the patient must undergo re-testing while doctors use additional considerations such as clinical history to determine whether the patient has been infected.
Major housing rental fraudster brought down
Zhang Wei, a false landlord who told numerous renters that they were renting an apartment directly from him, while he was in fact acting as an intermediary, has been brought to justice.
One renter told CCTV Finance that she had initially paid Zhang RMB 120,000 in deposits and advance rent (Zhang often asked renters to pay a full year in advance), only to be kicked out and asked to leave when it turned out the actual landlord had other plans for the property. Zhang said he could put her in another apartment, but nonetheless, she had come to realize that he wasn’t the real landlord, and the certificates of ownership he had shown her were fraudulent.
Complicating matters further, Zhang often didn’t even have contact with the actual landlord but was acting as an agent of an agent.
The case is still under investigation, but estimates say that Zhang may have cheated upwards of 100 victims.
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Images: Xinhua, Shenme Zhide Mai, UNSPLASH
