A tiktok video of another example of why Shandong leads the nation in food poisoning cases, with an example of some blue-ringed bread:
The guy stops his grandma and asks how the hell she can eat bread that’s already mouldy, and urges her to throw it away.
She says she can just peel the bad parts off and eat the centre.
He says if she gets sick, she’ll have to go to the hospital.
And she responds, “So what if I get sick? I’m gonna die soon anyways.”
Comments say, “Influencers need to be more wary of people staging videos of extreme behaviour like this for attention on the internet.”
“So she has no children to take care of her?”
“When I grew up in Shandong, we’d made a ton of bread right before the Chinese New Year, and reheat it the next day, and reheat it again, so on and so forth, until a whole month after Chinese New Year. It’ll turn green and then black, and they still won’t throw it away.”
Under the hashtag #why is it that only girls are into hanfu?, a blogger writes, “Some observations that people from outside of hanfu circles rarely sees. A friend started a group order for men’s clothing, making a recreation of a historical relic.
While they were putting the order together, the guys gave a lot of accurate technical requirements. They wanted an over-shirt [大团窠, it’s the little half shirt/half cape thing if you throw that search term into Google images], they wanted banner connections, they wanted high-end purple.
This means there’s going to be an excessive amount of fabric used for each outfit, plus unique embroidery patterns, means that small orders is basically impossible.
Plus, “A whole court of purple riches, filled with learned men” [a line of poetry]. Purple is the highest colour in Tang official robes, so all the men didn’t want the red colour that the original historical relic came in. They wanted purple, which is a colour designated for the Chancellor.
Don’t think that going from red to purple is a small detail. This means that this outfit couldn’t be repackaged as a Tang-style wedding outfit for the broader market. Grooms won’t wear purple.
In the end, the group order got through. All the boys got their beloved outfit. Put on a fake moustache, and they look like they’d just fought with Yang Guozhong [Noble Consort Yang’s cousin] all day. It’s all very historical. And they did buy every order the merchant produced.
But.
Why do girls never have such detailed demands? Do they have less love for history?
I don’t think so. I think it’s because girls are used to living more frugal lives. They like to recommend their favourites to each other, to buy repeatedly from the same merchants, and they like to see their favourite brands become more successful and prestigious. It means they have good taste, and it means their clothes will be worth more in the secondhand market.
Whereas men often feel like, “I’m the best! I got the best outfit that none of you got to buy! That means you’re not as good as me!”
And after observing the whole thing, and calculating in my heart how much it would cost to produce that outfit, all I could think was, “It’s great they love the fashion so much, but if I want to put food on the table, I better not accept more orders from men…”
Comments say, “I’ve never heard of such a thing. It’s always women who are always returning their clothes. Men just wear what arrives in the mail and don’t fuss about it.”
“The best way to sell male hanfu outfits is to reduce its size and market it to women.”
“For a lot of men (I’m not talking about anyone in particular unless you just really need to identify with this), when they’re wearing hanfu, if they’re not “roleplaying” as a character, they can’t immerse themselves. In their brain, they just don’t think it’s okay to wear hanfu as themselves in modern society. They have to completely divorce themselves from their modern identity to safely wear hanfu.”
A compilation of comments about why there aren’t any……Voldemorts in Guangdong. Okay, so this is a term that’s very hard to explain. It’s a pun on Voldemort’s name translated into Chinese (伏地魔, Fu Di Mo), with a couple of characters changed out, it’s pronounced the same way 扶弟魔 (Fu Di Mo), but it means a demon that supports their younger brother. A term that’s used to describe women who dedicate their whole lives to supporting their brother, handing over their pay check, buying a house for their brother, getting money from their husband to give to their brother, etc, etc. In fact, a lot of people have girls specifically to brainwash them into becoming a Voldemort, so the parents have less of a burden in providing for their son. This is a phenomenon I don’t think I’ve ever really seen in the west, so I can’t find an equivalent term for it. If anyone has a better suggestion for a translation than the literal Voldemort, please tell me!
“In Guangdong, if you’re the younger brother of a Voldemort, you’d be mocked by everyone you know.”
“I’m in Guangdong, and everything my family owns is going to my brother, but he’s also responsible for taking care of everyone then. There’s no need for any arguments—that’s how it works in every household.”
“The God of Thunder in the skies and maternal uncles on earth. In Guangdong, maternal uncles are highly respected.”
“I’m from Chaoshan, and my maternal uncle paid to build me a 3-story mansion.”
“I bought a washing machine for my mom, a little over 1000 RMB. My brother wired me back the money all angry, like, you think I can’t afford this shit or what? Why would you pay for it?”
“I’m from Guangdong, and I’ve honestly never even heard of Voldemorts until I started working.”
“I’m not a Voldemort. It’s pretty explicitly clear that I’m just a guest at my house who’s staying a little longer than usual.”
Comments say, “Isn’t Guangdong infamous for being sexist? Especially Chaoshan?”
“Why are you all so proud of this??”
“Most women in Guangdong have been brainwashed thoroughly like this. I’ve seen a lot of them in real life who just naturally accepts that nothing in her family is going to her, but still insists her parents and brother really loves her.”
“At first, I thought this was an AI picture. Then I realised it was real. This was a hole in the wall that Obama ate at in 2016. The owner sealed the utensils used in that meal in class. So long as his restaurant doesn’t go under, it’ll be a permanent display!”
Comments say, “He didn’t just preserve it, he came out with an Obama lunch deal. It’s right in Hanoi.”
“When Yellen came to Beijing to eat, they came out with a God of Wealth lunch deal too.”
“I can’t believe he washed everything. [doge]”
“Just saw a post on Xiao Hong Shu about some one who wrote their homework using ChatGPT and got found out by their professor. All the comments underneath are telling her to just deny, deny, deny.
I just want to say, don’t let yourself be misled by these people!
Honesty is a super important value in western society. Lying and deliberately misdirecting people is pretty much regarded in the same light as violence or robbery.
So just denying everything assuming that they don’t have any direct evidence is a terrible mindset, because this isn’t a criminal case. The school or company doesn’t need to prove beyond all reasonable doubt before they can levy disciplinary actions against you. So long as they’re reasonable certain to themselves that you did something shady, they can punish you.
Listening to Chinese people telling you to deny everything would just make everything worse.”
Comments say, “Honestly, using ChatGPT to write your essay is really common in universities now. All my friends are using it. I don’t think it’s a good sign. I don’t know about overseas, but internet information compromise and academic fraud is such a huge problem in China.”
“I usually just ask ChatGPT to make me a mind map or give me suggestions on my proposal. You can’t make it write the whole thing for you!”
“The professor isn’t gonna make more work for himself, so he’s probably not gonna report it to anyone without having concrete evidence.”
A tiktok video of an old lady who deliberately lies down right outside of a gate, so that when it raises and a car drives out, it’s impossible for the driver to see her. She’s ran over and killed, and her family demanded that the driver be sentenced to death and fined 4 million RMB. The judge ultimately ruled that this is a pure accident, no crime has been committed, and the driver was acquitted.
Comments say, “I mean, to put it bluntly, that old lady was kind of asking for it.”
“What evil family! How can they demand both a man’s money and his life?”
“Damn, what a cathartic video. Shame it wasn’t quite perfect. The judge should’ve ruled the family pay the driver emotional damages. He was just going along his normal every day life, and now he has blood on his hands.”
“The teacher said she was shocked by my son’s imagination. I got a call from my son’s teacher, and I was surprised that the teacher sounded so happy. After all, every single call I’ve ever gotten from my son’s school has been a complaint about him XD
The teacher said that when he raised his hand to answer questions today, he did a really good job. That he was a lot more imaginative than everyone else.
For example, for this question, everyone else just wrote something like, “We’re running around the track field, we’re singing happily” or something, but I put what my son wrote in pic 2. The teacher really praised my son and gave his group thre eextra stars.”
The question is, “Please pick a couple of words from the following list and write a few sentences using them: flowers, laughter, sunshine, grass, tell, sing, run, like.”
Her son wrote, “Sunshine loves to run around. Flowers are its track field. Laughter is coming from the garden, because the flowers are getting tickled pink.”
Comments say, “That description is so cute and so amazing! I’m so touched by kiddo’s imaginations.”
“It’s so imaginative and innocent! I feel like someone should compile what children write and make it into a collection of poetry or something.”
“I was sitting in the car waiting on someone with my kiddo, and she was like, “Mommy, can you open the window up? I want to see the world.”
A tiktok video making fun of ignorant white people for never seeing a miniature pop-rice [like popcorn, but rice] machine before:
Comments say, “It’s advanced Chinese technology: food enlarger.”
“He didn’t add sugar, and he didn’t shake the bag out after he’s done, so it won’t be as crunchy as it could be.”
“Ooooh, now I want one to play with.”
“A 26 year old University of British Columbia chemistry doctor was KO’d in a match at the Simon Fraser University’s Western Canada Amateur Boxing Championships. The opponent struck him with far more force than was allowed.
After four months of treatment, he has become a vegetable, and the Canadian government and school are very cold towards him.
His mom has now brought him back to Beijing for further treatment, and has started a crowdfund online to deal with his astronomical medical bills. Sigh.”
Comments say, “What, did he sign his life away? What happened to human rights? No one is gonna be held responsible, he’s just shit outta luck?”
“How unfortunate. You got to protect yourself while studying abroad. It’s so much more dangerous out there than in China.”
“A 26-year-old chemistry major? Why the hell did he go join a boxing competition then? He’s just too full of himself.”
A policy is coming out that starting from the 1st of March, delivery drivers will not be allowed to drop off your package at a central station [basically a tiny warehouse where you can go pick up your packages] where you go pick it up anymore, and now must deliver it to your door. As a result, a lot of delivery drivers have quit their jobs, claiming that this has unreasonably increased the amount of work they must do.
Comments say, “Quit if you want then. They don’t even fucking call you anymore. They just toss it into the station. If I can’t get my package at my door, why would I even bother shopping online? Am I just addicted to lockdowns or what?”
“They all used to deliver to your door. I don’t know when they started only delivering to the gate of the development. And then, after that, they’ll only drop off packages at central stations.”
“Just make companies raise delivery driver wages. What’s this got to do with us consumers paying delivery fees? It’s just capitalists getting too greedy again.”
So the old lady unlived herself for a hustle? Now that's commitment.
"A compilation of comments about why there aren’t any……Voldemorts in Guangdong. Okay, so this is a term that’s very hard to explain. It’s a pun on Voldemort’s name translated into Chinese (伏地魔, Fu Di Mo), with a couple of characters changed out, it’s pronounced the same way 扶弟魔 (Fu Di Mo), but it means a demon that supports their younger brother. A term that’s used to describe women who dedicate their whole lives to supporting their brother, handing over their pay check, buying a house for their brother, getting money from their husband to give to their brother, etc, etc. In fact, a lot of people have girls specifically to brainwash them into becoming a Voldemort, so the parents have less of a burden in providing for their son. This is a phenomenon I don’t think I’ve ever really seen in the west, so I can’t find an equivalent term for it. If anyone has a better suggestion for a translation than the literal Voldemort, please tell me!"
This unsavoury trait clearly didn't die with Cantonese immigration, pffft. I don't think there's any specific term for such women but we call those men 敗家仔 bai ga zai