Viral Week: Meng Wanzhou Released and Other Trending News

Huawei heir returns to China

The US government has dropped an extradition warrant against Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, who left Canada and arrived back in Shenzhen on Saturday. Meng, who is the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, was detained in Vancouver on fraud charges from the US in December 2018.

Children’s clothing company criticized for strange English slogans

Chinese clothing brand JNBY came under criticism and ridicule for inappropriate English text and images used on its latest children’s wear designs. Examples spotted by netizens include phrases like “welcome to hell,” and “let me touch you,” as well as images of amputations, a bleeding rabbit head, and naked bodies. Netizens have also questioned JNBY’s promotional material for the collection, which involves child models in what many argue are sexually suggestive poses. JNBY has since recalled the offending products and vowed to review their design process.

Megatron tells tourists to behave

An interactive Megatron character from the Transformers franchise (played by an actor in costume) at the newly opened Universal Beijing Resort has gone viral for making witty comments to tourists, once telling off a visitor who made a middle-finger gesture while posing for a photo: “Your gesture is so rude...dirty humans, I don't want to take a picture with him.” On another day, Megatron tried to break up a fight between two tourists cutting in line, before giving up and halting its performance.

Power cuts in China’s northeast

Heilongjiang, Liaoning, and Jilin provinces in northeast China all reported power shortages last week, with authorities saying the hgih price of coal led to limited electricity supplies. According to the State Grid, the use of electricity for non-residential purposes had been rationed, but this still wasn't enough to prevent people's homes losing power intermittently. The State Grid also said they expect the power supply to get back to normal soon, but gave no detailed timeline.

China bans crypto trading and mining

Ten agencies, including China’s central bank, foreign exchange regulators, and financial agencies announced a ban on mining cryptocurrency, conducting crypto-related transactions, and forbid any Chinese firms from facilitating cryptocurrency trading within the country. The value of Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency in the world, fell by 8 percent following the announcement.

Grandma in Shanghai accidentally captures rare “fairy” bird

In Shanghai, an elderly woman surnamed Zhang captured what she thought was a common bird while out in a nearby park. When her granddaughter found out she informed an animal protection service, whose staff were stunned to discover the colorful bird was a fairy pitta, an endangered species with a global population of just 10,000. Animal protection services have been nursing the bird back to full health before they return it to the wild.

Granny gets fashionable

Guo Wanrong and her 97-year-old grandma have become popular online because of their shared wardrobe, with netizens amazed by the elderly woman’s fashion sense. “Seniors don’t necessarily have to wear old people clothes,” said Guo, “I just want my granny to feel more beautiful, younger, and more confident.”

A novel way to deal with nuisance calls...

A woman in Guilin, Guangxi, became so frustrated with receiving nuisance marketing calls all day that she has taken drastic measures: by answering the calls, placing her phone under a cooking pot, and furiously beating it with her hand to cause an mighty racket for the caller. A video shows one nuisance caller hanging up seconds after being subject to the noise.