02/23/26 - Chinese people don’t worship useless gods.
#Accidentally mis-wired 690K company funds other party refuses to return money. “Lately, an employee in human resources in a certain company in Suzhou, Ms. Li, accidentally wired 690K on company funds into someone else’s account. The other person initially verbally agreed to return the money, but then changed his mind. After Ms. Li called the police, Suzhou police emergency froze the funds and communicated multiple times with the receiver who was in Yunnan, informing him of his legal responsibility in regards to ill-gotten goods. Finally, the receiver agreed to return the funds, but since there was no bank offices near him locally, he had to make a long trip to make the transfer. With the aid of the police, Ms. Li went to Yunnan, and with the witness of police in both states, the receiver transferred the 690K back to Ms. Li’s company’s accounts.”
Comments say, “Refusing to pay it back in the face of the police?”
“If it was me, I would refuse too. I’d just tell the police and bank to deal with it. Who knows if the other side is a scammer or not. What if she used my personal information to take out a loan?”
“There’s no bank location nearby so he had to make a long trip? What a horrible misfortune during the New Years. I only get 8 days of holiday to go back home. If I had to spend half a day or a whole day on making a transfer, I wouldn’t be happy either. I don’t get enough time at home to start with.”
“When I was little, my neighbour auntie was super pretty, but her face was always bruised from getting beaten. She had a son who was 6-7 years old when she finally couldn’t take it anymore. One day, while the neighbour uncle wasn’t at home, she told the kid, “Leave with mommy. Mommy is going to provide for you even if I have to beg in the streets for it.” The kid refused. He ran around everywhere crying and screaming and even ran out onto the road. His mom chased after him, and he told his mom, “My dad beats you, not me! I’m not leaving!” The auntie stood there for the longest time in shock, and then went back home, packed up her stuff, and left very quickly. It’s been over a decade since I’ve seen that auntie. After the auntie left, his dad started beating him. The worst time, his dad broke his bone.”
Comments say, “The moment that kid says, “My dad beats you, not me!”, that woman realised that that child came from his seed. He’s the same type of person as his father.”
“Her son would even blame her for getting beat by his dad. If you hadn’t left, my dad wouldn’t beat me.”
“He would only blame his mom for leaving and making his dad beat him. If his mom hadn’t left, he wouldn’t have to get beaten. He wouldn’t remember how hard his mom had it and how determined she was to take him with her.”
“Talked with him about housewives:
Him: “Housewives have to exist. When the older people in a family can’t help, and they can’t afford a nanny or would have to sacrifice too much standard of living to afford one, people have to choose to have the person with the lower wages do childcare to save on costs.”
Me: “What do you mean by the person with the lower wages?”
Him: “If the woman makes less than the man, and it costs more to hire a nanny than she even makes, a lot of people will choose to become housewives. It saves costs.”
Me: “Why safe these costs? She could’ve kept working. Why would she sacrifice her personal value to benefit the other members of the family?”
Him: “Are you saying housewives have no value? It’s not easy at all and they work super hard.”
Me: “I think housewives do a very complicated and almost entirely worthless job. No woman should be a housewife. They need to work no matter how little money they make, because work is the only way you can improve your social station and value.
Him: “I think being a housewife has a lot of value too, and you get acknowledgement from your family. Contributing to the household from home is the same as going out and working.”
Me: “What does acknowledgement from your family matter? Even if you wanted to be a housewife, you can’t change the fact that there is no societal recognition for housewives. If society really acknowledges housewives, how come that’s not a real job? Why can’t anyone guarantee any compensation for their work? You say you respect them, but once enough time has passed, you would also feel contempt for people who never work and live off of someone else, even if you were her family. That’s human nature. If I made money and you were home all the time, I would feel contempt for you too. I wouldn’t do it openly. It would just seep into every aspect of our family’s lives. Like that relative of yours, she’s a housewife. And she looks totally divorced from society. No knowledge, no opinions. If you insist that everyone in her family respects her, it might look like it, but does anyone actually talk to her about big decisions? Does she even understand what they’re talking about? Nobody is going to listen to her opinions. I would never let myself become like that.””
Comments say, “The situation he’s describing is very ideal, but there’s not many men with morals.”
“It’s already impressive he thinks it’s not easy being a housewife. A lot of people look down on housewives but don’t know how to do without them.”
“Make him your househusband and see how long he lasts.”
“I don’t know what these parents are thinking, bringing their kids to such a dangerous place.
On the 21st of February, in Shangri-La, Hutiao Gorge, an 8-year-old boy accidentally fell off a cliff and died.
They weren’t a part of a hiking group at the time. The boy was there with his dad and grandma. The passage was only 1 metre wide and the wind can be quite strong on the mountain. The boy accidentally fell to the bottom of the cliff more than 20 metres down, which was covered with sharp rocks.”
Comments say, “Irresponsible parents have no idea how much risk their actions carry.”
“His guardian should be charged with negligent homicide.”
“This is disrespecting children’s lives, and it’s ignorance to the danger of your own actions.”
#Official announcement on Mazu child switch case. “I don’t care whether or not capital had interfered. I don’t care whether they could lift the palanquin or not. I don’t care whether they cast dice or not. But you’re trying to tell me that this little kid climbed up there by himself? Do you really think that’s believable? How could it have happened on a whim when he’s wearing the proper costume and everything?”
Comments say, “Mazu will curse every fraudster.”
“The announcement said that’s a little girl, not boy.”
“They were so worried he would fall off that there’s a red string tying him around the waist to the palanquin, and there are adults standing by to watch over him. And you’re saying he decided to climb up there himself on a whim?”
“97-year-old grandma broke her dead husband’s funeral picture in anger.
There’s a 97-year-old grandma in my village who broke her husband’s funeral picture over the New Years while cursing him. It was such drama.
Her husband was a bad guy—alcoholic in life, often beat her and her kids. At least he died early, and all her kids are successful, so the grandma’s second half of life was fairly smooth.
New Year’s Eve, every family in the village is praying to their ancestors. The grandma’s kids had prepared candles and food and were just about to start burning paper, and the grandma suddenly got up and broke her husband’s picture and yelled, “We’re not gonna burn anything to him from now on! He only takes money and never does anything for us!”
Apparently, the grandma was obsessed with how her great-granddaughter didn’t win the lottery to get into a private middle school last year and thought her dead husband didn’t properly pull connections despite the money his descendants have burned. He didn’t fulfil his duty of protecting his descendants.
The old grandma angrily went, “Selfish people are selfish even in death! We burned so many bullions to him every year and he spent all of it on himself!”
The grandson tried to calm her down, and the grandma went, “We’re not going to maintain his photo in this house! He’s useless!”
When they burned money later, the grandkids were burning while the grandma was yelling, “Other ancestors can take this! [Insert name] isn’t allowed any!”
And at the end, the grandma threatened that she’s giving her husband one last chance. If her youngest daughter’s health check up next year shows up badly, she’s going to desecrate his grave herself.”
Comments say, “That fits with Chinese culture. Chinese people don’t worship useless gods.”
“Honestly, if this grandpa’s photo and grave can give some catharsis to this grandma, then his death was at least somewhat useful.”
“My dad’s been dead for years, and last year, I had a dream where he asked me to come see him. The next day, I told my grandpa and my grandpa went to his grave and chewed him out and kicked his grave.”
“It’s a tradition unique to China. “Faith returns to zero as soon as the eggs stop.” We don’t worship useless gods. Back in the day, if there was a bad drought and people prayed for rain and none came, they would drag the dragon god out of his temple to get dried under the sun.”
“A highly reliable grandma.”
“Before my grandpa died, my grandma whispered to him, “Old man, you’ve had an okay life. You have many kids and they all love you, and I’ve taken care of you for decades. You can rest in peace now. You gotta protect them from now on. Let their work be smooth and their family be happy. Or else I’m not gonna burn any money to you, and I’m gonna make you pay once I get down there. Understand?””
“Now you understand why she lived so long. In the new year, I hope everyone will stop blaming themselves for everything!”