07/12/25 - Even if I have to die, I’m going to make sure to bury a bunch of people with me.
#Team China takes Women’s Doubles Silver and Gold. “WTT US Grand Slam Women’s Doubles Final, Wang Yidi and Kuai Man won against Sun Yinsha and Wang Manyu, taking champion! Congrats, girls!”
Comments say, “Good job, Sun Yinsha!”
“Sun Yinsha is the best!”
“Baby Yinsha worked so hard! Rest up and see you at the next competition!”
#Boba tea loses money in takeout war. “On the 12th of July, in Zhejiang, after most major takeout platforms had a grand battle, the war continues this weekend. A certain owner of a Good Me tells reporters that they sell 900 cups a day for almost no profit. “We did prepare but we didn’t think there’d be that many orders.” Meanwhile, the workers claim they’re losing money. “You can buy a 50RMB bottle of tea for just a few bucks.”
Comments say, “Isn’t this discounts given out by the platform? Why do they have to pay for it?”
“At most they’d just make less money. How would they make a loss? Who would dare charge 50RMB for a cup of tea? How much does that cup really cost?”
“I would never drink 50RMB boba tea anyways.”
#Reproductive hostage. “A couple lost their only child. He passed away in a car accident 3-years-old. They saw the media constantly talk about 60-year-old women having babies, so they came in for a consult.
I understand them. The poor lady kept crying while we talked. But she had began menopause at 50-years-old. She can’t have anymore kids, not even three years ago.
She discussed freezing eggs with me.
First of all, China’s laws doesn’t allow freezing eggs for healthy, single women. And even setting the law aside, freezing eggs only mean something if you do it before 35-years-old.
And even if the law allowed young women to freeze their eggs, wouldn’t a lot of people complain about reproductive hostages?” [生育绑架—a term that comes up in the Chinese dating market a lot from men who complain about women demanding too many things or too high a bride price and using the fact that they have to go through pregnancy and childbirth as a justification.]
Comments say, “Is the purpose of freezing eggs finding a surrogate when you’re too old? It’s not like she can have the baby at her age. Surrogacy is illegal, doesn’t she know?”
“If she’s a little bit younger, she could’ve gotten a surrogate.”
“Who are women taking hostage when they’re freezing their own eggs and living their own lives?”
A video of a 43 square metre unit for 1.3 million RMB in Shanghai:
Comments say, “I don’t buy it.”
“There’s no way 43 square metres is that big. Who are you trying to lie to?”
“That looks closer to 98 square metres.”
#Married for one year before divorce 400K dowry ruled as marital assets. “On the 9th of July, Shandong Mengyin County Court posted this case: Ms. Xu and Mr. Hu got their marriage certificate in January of 2023. In March of 2023, they held their wedding. Ms. Xu’s mom held up a notice board at the wedding, which read, “Dowry 400K plus one car.” After the marriage, due to emotional conflicts, Ms. Xu sued for divorce in December of 2024, and claimed that the 400K and car that her mother announced at the wedding was a personal gift and should be considered her personal property. Mr. Hu claims that the dowry was obtained after they were married, without any clear agreement about ownership, so it should be joint marrital property.
After hearing the case, Mengyin Court believed that the plaintiff believes it was a personal gift for Ms. Xu and provided evidence of a written document from her mother. The defendant believed the gift took place during their marriage and the notice board did not specifically read, “only gifted to Xu”, so therefore it should be considered a gift for both of the couple. In this case, although Xu provided photos and video of the wedding, the contents of the board only clarifies that it is a “dowry”, not that it does not belong to Mr. Hu. The written document from Xu’s mother was produced during the court case, and there’s a lack of objective proof that she only intended the gift for one person. The plaintiff was not able to provide evidence “beyond reasonable doubt”. Therefore, the court ruled that the 400K and car is joint marital property.”
Comments say, “Lol, so who’s the gold digger who wants it all now, huh?”
“Bride price is pre-marital assets, but dowries are joint property. Who came up with this law?”
“Huh?? How come I remember cases where bride price was ruled as pre-marital assets?”
“Back in Dynastic days, even when they confiscated all property, they left dowries alone. It’s even scarier than ancient times now.”
[Another post about the recent heatwave that hit Shandong, where students were complaining about dorms not having AC.]
“A lot of people think schools can’t afford AC, but actually, they just have a really old electrical system and the circuit shorts if people use too much AC. So teacher don’t let anyone use equipment that drains a lot of power, like AC. What do you think?”
Comments say, “It’s the local government not giving out enough funding for education.”
“My daughter’s primary school finally added more electric boxes before this year’s summer break, because they really didn’t have enough lines before. They said they’re going to add ACs to every class room during summer break. All the schools in the whole district are installing ACs. There’s nothing teachers can do about this. It’s all up to what the Department of Education requires.”
“They just don’t have the money. The budget doesn’t just have to pay for the 20-30K a month in utilities, but all kinds of equipment needs to be maintained or renewed, plus there’s requirements for cultural constructions you have to build. It’s jut not enough. The school’s walls were painted by teachers. The electrical lines and windows and doors were installed by the physics teacher. The mural that makes the school look less shabby was painted by the art teacher who had to skip siesta for half a month. The couple grand of bonuses teachers earn each semester doesn’t get paid for two years at a time. They just don’t have the money to add more power and install AC.”
[A little while back, after two government officials had a bit too much to drink at dinner and one of them died from alcohol poisoning, the government has started a new round of alcohol bans for officials, this time more strictly enforced than ever. This has directly impacted the business of major hotels/restaurants, who have resorted to setting up roadside stalls to sell their food instead. Apparently, it’s hit the Uber market really hard too.]
“Societal phenomenons: As major hotels everywhere starts running roadside stalls, some bloggers complain that what’s scary isn’t that they’re joining the roadside stall business. It’s that they’re selling their food for 10 RMB. Each dish used to be over a hundred bucks, and now it’s all on clearance. The impact on surrounding small businesses is huge.
Bloggers claim that when he’s recycling restaurant equipment, he heard the owner say that the hotels aren’t trying to save themselves, they’re trying to drag everyone else into the water. The blogger asks, “Is this fair competition?”
Do the roadside stalls actually make enough money to cover the operating expenses of a five star hotel? This is just like the line in TV, “Even if I have to die, I’m going to make sure to bury a bunch of people with me.””
Comments say, “It is, and it’s not. It’s just like businesses trying to save themselves during covid. They don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, but they’re doing what they can right now. A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step.”
“Nah, it is.”
“Hotels are running roadside stalls in my area too.”
A compilation of parents who insist on pulling connections for everything:
“My dad is the worst. A little while back, we were going to Shanghai, and Eastern Airlines had tickets for a little over 1200RMB. I was about to buy them, and my dad stopped me. Said he had a primary school classmate who worked at Eastern Airlines. He can take him out to dinner and see if we can get the tickets for cheaper. I froze after I heard that. He hasn’t talked to that classmate in over 40 years. In the end, we gave away a bunch of gifts and took him out to dinner just for me to buy the same tickets for over 1700RMB.”
“They’re just used to relying on connections. My FiL is even more ridiculous. During covid, taking a train back to Shenzhen required a covid test. I could’ve just went to the hospital and had it done, but he insisted that he knew someone at the clinic and he called them. And they told me to come over the next day around 1PM. And when I headed over, I had to call multiple times for someone to do the test. Then I asked when I can get results because I have a train to catch the next day at 3PM, and they said they couldn’t do it within 24 hours. They had to send it in batches to a lab. If I want the results faster, I should’ve gone to a hospital. So I went to a hospital. That was my plan to start with. Now I had to bother someone else and delay my plans. I don’t understand pulling connections to get a covid test done.”
“If you’re renovating your house, do not hire a family member! Never!”
“A family member installed all our glass doors and windows in my hometown, and the windows cracked after less than a year, and we can’t even get them to do repairs on it. It’s horrible. A window cracks every year.”
“I was just going to ride a train, and my mom wanted to call my distant cousin who works as a janitor at the train station. I put a stop to that right away and my mom dared to act upset about it.”
“When I was in college, every time a new semester started, I’d have to take the train to leave. Every time my dad got to the long distance train station, he’ll say hi to the ticket seller all mysterious like, or go look for someone somewhere. I always thought he had connections or something and I’d get some benefits, but every time, it’s the exact same train, setting off at the exact same time. Later on, I finally asked him what the hell he was talking to these people about. And he was like, “To let you get on the train earlier.” ….Why would I want to board earlier? I’ve got the same seat number. I have more time to hang out if I don’t board early, go pee or something. Getting on the train early just means another half an hour of sitting around.”
“Hahahahahaha, my dad had a skin tag on his butt. And instead of going to the hospital and using his insurance, he went to find his hairdresser friend. After a snip, he took the friend out to dinner and spent 300+ RMB.”
“Old people think that’s their connections, they can get people to help them, they get a sense of accomplishment out of it. My FIL needed a new light for his house, and you can literally buy it off of Jingdong and it’ll come with free installation, but no. He had to look up his primary school classmate. Something that should’ve been free cost him one dinner, two packs of cigarettes, and a box of tea leaves. How much does a light cost? Lol.”
“Because the service industry was really underdeveloped back in the day. It’s not like now, where you can hire someone to do anything.”
“Parents just like being fucked by people they know.”