In the 14th National People’s Congress, reform policies regarding the State Council of the People’s Republic of China have been passed. I know this sounds incredibly vague, but that is all the information the official news is giving me. Comments say that, “The shorter the report, the bigger the news.”
A mom asks the question, “Which is more tiring? Going out to work or staying at home with kids? My baby is only 3 months old, and I’m alone at home with her and all the housework by myself. My husband works. Because I’m breastfeeding, I feel exhausted all the time. I know it’s not easy to work either. But today, when I talked to my husband, he acted like my life is super chill because I get to stay at home. I just want to know if it’s true what the internet says—that sympathising with men will bring bad luck?”
Top voted comment says, “Don’t sympathise with women—it’ll bring bad luck for life.”
A Chinese primary school holds a terrorism drill, except they chose to have the PE teacher play the terrorist. There is a video of him running through the school, swinging a fake-machete, fake-killing at least 30 teachers and 120 kids with no one being able to chase him down.
A company had to cancel their “Goddess Event” (for International Women’s Day), because over 100 women signed up, and only 2 men did. The event was supposedly going to involve men getting gifts for women, such as flowers, phones, makeup, bags, or take them out to food, or take them to a theme park. A lot of women who had boyfriends or husbands had signed up too. Blogger comments, “This sort of company is so shameless—they want all the honour of holding the event, but don’t want to pay a dime.”
The election for new leadership is beginning at the National People’s Congress. They’re livestreaming the whole thing on Weibo.
A blogger complains that it’s International Women’s Day, but she doesn’t want to send her mom a red pocket anymore this year. This is because her mother had said that raising a daughter is just losing capital. After you raise her to adulthood, you still need to sink in a huge dowry. If she marries somewhere close, it might be better, but if she marries far away, then you won’t get any of your investment back. It’s not like raising a son at all, where you can at least see where your money went. He can marry a woman home and pass down your line.
The blogger was very mad, but her mom just laughed and said she was joking. Everyone says this after all. When the blogger marries, her mom and dad are still going to give her 80K-100K in dowry, they still love her after all.
The blogger doesn’t know what to say, she’s sad and angry. When they used to get beat by her dad together, she had once sworn that she’d study hard, make money, and rescue her from this twisted family.
The blogger has a younger brother, younger than her by 12 years.
A man with a ground floor unit is getting sued by his neighbours for refusing to agree to the installation of an elevator. A blogger says they only have one question, “Why do you have to separately negotiate reimbursements to the ground-floor units? Why not negotiate it now?”
“When you bought this unit, you knew it didn’t have an elevator, and you knew you’d get too old to climb stairs one day. But you still bought it. Why? We’re all adults here and need to be responsible for our decisions.”
“Under a market economy, every demand has a resultant price. This price can be negotiated, but if negotiations break down, you immediately go to a lawsuit, that’s trying to force a nonconsensual transaction. That shouldn’t be legal.”
“I fully support the ground floor unit owner’s right to protect his own property. He is allowed to not agree to the installation of an elevator, it doesn’t matter why. If you don’t like it, then you can sell your house and buy a unit somewhere with an elevator. Or you can buy all the units on the ground floor.”
There is a video of a high school chemistry lesson, where the teacher does experiments with CGI animations on a touchscreen white board. This blogger points out that, “It looks fancy and high-tech, but it’s actually pretty pointless. Actually doing experimentation is super important in chemistry. A pre-programmed animation does nothing to teach people any of the practical skills they’ll need to use. Even playing a video of someone actually doing the experiment would be better, though the ideal is still doing it yourself. Rather than spending all your budget on this waste of time, you should just pay your teachers more.”
Woman who just returned from a trip to Thailand is telling people to stop going to Bangkok for holiday—the prices are too high right now. Comments say, “It’s still cheaper than Hainan, though.”
An askreddit, “Why are Xianxia shows less and less fun to watch nowadays?” The top voted reply is, “Because it’s just as involuted to be a God. You’re an Archangel, I’m a Supreme Being, our lifespan added together is 50 times the age of the universe. The protagonists of Ancient Love Poetry—one of them is one of the Four Great Gods, and one is the leader of all the High Gods—A Ruler of the Three Realms. All the Archons in old Xianxia shows don’t have have the privilege to wash their shoes. Godly rank inflates faster than the price of eggs.
I don’t know when it started, but nowadays, the protags of Xianxia shows are all Gods to start with. Across a plot that spans a dozen years or so, the status of the protag rises like it’s on a rocket.
You know, when Chinese Paladin first came out, Li Xiaoyao (the protagonist) was just an abandoned kid that went around conning people. Jingtian is just a waiter at Yongan Tang. Xianxia used to be about fighting against tyrannical forces, becoming a proper xia (a ronin, a free independent agent). Now, the protags are a part of the power structure. It used to be a cow-herder who falls in love with a fairy. It’s about subverting a power structure. Now, the protagonists are the power structure.”
Starting with The Journey of Flower, the minimum starting setup is, “The last God on Earth, someone who brings ruin and misfortune wherever they go,” and in the end, when she forces Baizihua to choose between her and humanity, that’s basically just an upgraded version of, “If your mom and I both fall in a pool, who do you save first?”
“Soon enough, we have the love story between the Supreme Ruler of Qingqiu and the Number One Beauty in all the Million Realms dating the Crown Prince of the Nine Heavens. She’s not just the only female High Goddess, but she’s beloved by all her brothers and her parents, she’s spoiled by her teacher and her classmates…”
“Xianxia shows nowadays have their protagonists already born at the peak of life, with no need for struggle. Characters that actually need to grow have no place in this kind of story. It’s the sort of world where an ironsmith will forever be an ironsmith no matter how hard he works. Everyone is already tired and stressed enough in real life—they only watch TV for a short high, a spoonful of artificial sugar. They don’t care whether there’s nutrition or not.”
“We no longer see the story of the underclass. For growth characters, their goal is to become stronger, fight more enemies, save the weak, spread justice…but for protagonists who can defeat anyone they want by waving their finger, the only goal left to pursue is dating, dealing with cheating, choosing between two excellent men…who cares about saving the world anymore?”
“Unlike in Wuxia where anyone can learn a martial art if they try hard enough, a God’s power level is entirely the result of her bloodline. No matter how hard you work, even if that True God over there looks pretty weak, the day they awaken to their powers, all of your effort might as well be a joke. This sort of bloodline based power means that no matter how much the protagonist might claim that they treat everyone equally, they are still a benefactor of a fundamentally unfair system. They might choose a weak, mixed-blood phoenix as their servant to show off how much their care about equality, but when push comes to shove, the line, “I’ll show you who’s in charge in the Realm of the Gods!” comes as naturally to her as breathing.
Not to mention, having an all-powerful being be a saviour already makes for a difficult story, because the only threat has to be a completely detached otherworldly threat, or a natural disaster. It’s like things are getting bad for no reason except to let the protagonist show off.”
“Honestly, only stories of the underclass truly resonate with people. Look at some of these lines, “You’re just a low level mix-colour phoenix, how dare you even think about serving Her Highness?” “Why can my sister marry someone from Qingqiu, but I have to marry a lowly bear spirit?” We had a revolution in order to fulfil the dream of everyone being equal, and now we’re going right back to serfdom again?”
“Shows used to be about sacrificing yourself for the world. Now, it’s in fashion for shows to be about sacrificing the world for your love. No matter how many people live in this world. I’ve even seen the line, “If you hurt her trying to save the world, I’ll kill everyone in it!” Now the protagonists are in the position of oppressing and exploiting people, and if they let up even a little bit, they are portrayed as merciful and kind. And the fates of normal human beings are nothing more than ants.”
“Now the only people who properly dream of tearing down the power structure or becoming just as powerful as the Gods with no bloodline and just hard work, are all villains.”
A thread making fun of people from Guangdong for not being able to eat any spicy, including a picture of a bowl of noodles with 3 drops of chili oil in it. OP says, “It doesn’t look like a lot of chili, but it’s still super hot.” The comments make fun of him, “That’s the amount I drop in my eyes every morning.” “I can use that as lube.” “That’s not even as spicy as my toothpaste.” “If you throw a single pepper into the Yangtze River, that is now a medium-spicy river.”
So do I. This is on my daily read list. Thank you!
I read this blog every day, just wanted to let you know