Top searches: COVID-19 flare-ups in Beijing, "Lunar internet", JD's internal letter
CDC: Beijing is facing “the most complex and severe prevention and control situation since the pandemic”, and it's at "the most critical moment."
As the World Cup 2022 kicked off in Qatar, and China's soccer fans started to dive into this exciting sports world, soccer secured several spots on top searches of China's social media on Tuesday, including soccer legend Messi's health condition and the game between Argentina and Saudi Arabia, which didn't go as most people predicted.
China's "lunar internet" plan for space exploration, COVID-19 updates in Beijing, and an e-commerce tycoon's internal letter to his employees are also grabbing China's netizens' eyes on Tuesday.
Tuesday's top 10 trending searches on Douyin (the Chinese equivalent to TikTok) as of 5:00 p.m. (0900 GMT)：
#1 Argentina soccer star Messi was pictured with a swollen ankle -- Sports Brief
梅西被拍到左脚踝隆起大包
#2 Beijing calls for flexible working hours in districts where COVID-19 cases rise rapidly
北京倡导疫情严重区弹性上班
#3 China is building "lunar internet"
中国正在建设月球互联网
#4 JD founder Richard Liu sends an internal letter to the whole company
刘强东发京东全员信
#5 Skinny old lady spent over 800,000 yuan (about 112,000 U.S. dollars) on stray dogs
老人为救狗花80万瘦成纸
A 66-year-old lady in northeast China's Liaoning Province has been taking care of stray dogs since 2015. According to information online, she has spent all her life savings on those animals and has saved over 500 dogs. Within several years, the lady lost around 25kg, but she still wants to carry on her cause in the future.
#6 Biden approves emergency declaration for New York state -- Xinhua
拜登宣布纽约州进入紧急状态
#7 Argentina vs. Saudi Arabia -- The New York Times
阿根廷 vs. 沙特阿拉伯
#8 Actress Maggie Cheung Man-yuk on Douyin now
张曼玉入驻抖音
Chinese actress Maggie Cheung Man-yuk, former Cannes Best Actress Award winner, started an official douyin account on Tuesday. With three short videos, Cheung has attracted 328,000 fans and received 934,000 likes in half of a day.
#9 Argentina vs. Saudi Arabia: Score prediction
阿根廷 vs. 沙特比分预测
China's soccer fans actively guessed the results of Argentina's 2022 World Cup Group C opener against Saudi Arabiaon Tuesday, just like fans from all over the world. Though many predictions favored Argentina, Saudi Arabia defeated Argentina 2-1 later that day.
#10 Settlement of Hebi's school bullying case
鹤壁校园霸凌事件处理结果
A 16-year-old teenage girl had been severely bullied by her classmate in a vocational school in Hebi, a city in central China's Henan Province. On Sunday, the school decided to give a serious warning to the headmaster, dismiss relevant officials and expel the bully, according to Yangtse Evening Post.
The case has sparked heated discussion on China's social media. "School bullying casts a lasting shadow over one's life, we must take it seriously," a netizen commented.
#2 Beijing calls for flexible working hours in districts where COVID-19 cases rise rapidly
Beijing reported 634 locally transmitted confirmed Covid-19 cases, with 135 infections spotted through mass screening in communities on Tuesday, said Beijing Municipal CDC at a recent press conference.
"Districts severely hit by the pandemic should promote flexible working hours," said Liu Xiaofeng, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control, urging citizens to reduce unnecessary outings and avoid gatherings.
Liu mentioned that this round of COVID-19 flare-ups had influenced multiple districts in Beijing, and Chaoyang district in central Beijing is the worst-hit area.
At a previous press conference on Monday, Liu said that Beijing is facing the most complex and severe prevention and control situation since the pandemic, and it's at "the most critical moment," according to China News Service.
An elderly woman receives a COVID-19 vaccine shot at a community in Beijing's Haidian district on March 14, 2021. [Photo/Xinhua]
The city has reported three deaths in this round of epidemic, and all of them are patients over 80 with preexisting conditions, said the Beijing News. It is worrying that the same report shows Beijing Ditan Hospital is treating over 200 old people with COVID-19.
To better protect the vulnerable groups, Liu kept advocating eligible people to get vaccines and boosters. "Less than 30 percent of the elderly patients over 80 got boosters," said Liu on Tuesday.
Earlier this month, China rolled out 20 optimized measures for combating COVID-19, including shortening quarantine time for international arrivals and no longer quarantine "secondary close contacts."
Government officials stressed in multiple occasions that the 20 optimized measures are not simple relaxation of controls nor "quiet quitting 躺平," and the refinement is to make COVID-19 prevention and controls more scientific and precise.
As days are getting colder in the winter, and COVID-19 infections keep popping up in Beijing and other cities in the country, the road ahead for 20 optimized measures might be a bumpy one. But hopefully, a warm spring will be waiting for us in the near future.
#3 China is building "lunar internet"
"Will we be able to use mobile phones on the moon in the future? " asked a reporter from China Central Television in an interview with Wu Weiren 吴伟仁, the chief designer of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program.
"Yes, we are building 'lunar internet' now," answered Wu, adding that the lunar internet would cover earth-moon space, moon space, and interstellar space.
In the interview, Wu also shed more light on China's future International Lunar Research Station to help the general public to understand China's space exploration programs better.
Wu Weiren, the chief designer of China's lunar exploration program, has an interview with China Central Television (CCTV) on November 21, 2022. Photo: snapshot from CCTV.
The basic structure for International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) will be built by around 2028 meaning it will be possible for Chinese astronauts to land on the moon within ten years, according to China's lunar exploration chief designer.
The ILRS will be expanded from a basic structure which China's Phase-4 lunar probe mission aimed to build using lunar probes of Chang'e-6, -7, and -8, Wu Weiren, the chief designer of China's lunar exploration program, said in an interview with China Central Television (CCTV).
According to Wu, the basic structure, which will be built by around 2028, will consist of lunar landers, rovers and leapers, as well as an energy system, communication infrastructure and human life support system.
"We are currently developing new energy system where nuclear energy can provide high-power and long-time supply. And the communication facility can achieve communication between the Moon and the Earth, or with other planets such as the Mars," Wu explained, saying it would be possible that Chinese astronauts could land on the Moon within the next 10 years.
Under the theme of "building new space exploration partnership," the United Nations/China Global Partnership Workshop on Space Exploration and Innovation opened on Monday, in south China's Hainan Province, as reported by China News Service.
At the opening event, China National Space Administration issued an action statement, calling for global cooperation in eight areas including global governance, project cooperation, and sharing scientific outcomes.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a congratulatory letter to the United Nations/China Global Partnership Workshop on Space Exploration and Innovation, which opened on the same day in Haikou, south China's island province of Hainan.
In the letter, Xi noted that China has actively carried out space exploration missions in recent years, including the launches of Chang'e lunar probes, the Mars probe Tianwen-1, and the solar exploration satellite Xihe, as well as the construction of the country's space station. He said that these missions have continuously deepened people's understanding of the universe and contributed to enhancing the well-being of humanity.
There is no end to space exploration. China is willing to work with all countries to strengthen exchanges and cooperation to jointly explore the mysteries of the universe, make peaceful use of the outer space, and promote space technology to better benefit people around the world, Xi said.
#4 JD founder Richard Liu sends an internal letter to the whole company
China's e-commerce giant JD.com will promote employee benefits through multiple measures, including cutting senior managers' salaries, said the company's founder and chairman Richard Liu in an internal letter on Tuesday, according to China News Service.
JD.com will establish a 10 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion) housing fund for all employees of the group and its subsidiaries, according to the email, which was seen by the South China Morning Post and its content confirmed by a company spokeswoman.
The Beijing-based firm, which is listed on both the Nasdaq and Hong Kong stock markets, will also start paying social security for all of the nearly 150,000 personnel at Deppon, a local courier service that was acquired this year by JD Logistics.
Liu, who stepped down as JD.com’s chief executive in April, wrote that he will personally donate 100 million yuan, which will be matched by the company and its subsidiaries, to a relief fund that will provide for the offspring of JD.com employees in the event of their death or when they get injured at work or outside work.
“This is to ensure our JD brothers have our solid backing and ensure that under no circumstances will their family return to poverty,” Liu wrote, signing the internal email as “your brother Dong”.
Some showed concerns over the company's financial situation, but Liu received a flood of praise online. Many people applauded his determination, called him "a man with vision," and hoped that there would be "more entrepreneurs paying back to the society like him."
Give Maggie Cheung a like on my behalf, LOL!
Literally thought of Hero the day before yesterday😅.