Top searches on Wechat, 22/06: Investigation on Henan's rural banks; Top supplier of crude oil for China; Torrential rains in Guangdong
"No one, no department, has the authority to break out of the role set by the health code for public health and use the health code for other purposes."
Here are topics attracting attention on Chinese popular social media WeChat today: Official punishment has been given today to officials who tamper with people's health codes for non-COVID reasons. Russia became China's biggest crude oil supplier in May. And rainstorms hit South China's Guangdong province hard, but the weather will clear soon as the rain belt moves away.
The top 10 topics were not selected by GRR, but from the real-time report from Wechat Search.
Wednesday's top 10 trending searches on Wechat as of 5:30 p.m. (0930 GMT):
#1 Tangshan's "National Civilized City" title gets canceled
唐山“文明城市”资格被停止
General Office of Central Commission for Guiding Cultural and Ethical Progress (中央文明办) ended Tangshan's qualification of "National Civilized City". It is believed that the decision is related to the recent barbecue restaurant attack incident and multiple evil force related cases that were reported in the later "Thunderstorm operation". Read more about this in GRR's post.
The national civilized cities are elected once in every three years. The elected cities must be pioneers in practicing socialism with Chinese characteristics, and with high levels of overall citizen quality and civilization. Tangshan once won the title four times in a row starting from 2011. It was also the only city in Hebei province that made this accomplishment.
#2 Alibaba employee harassment case suspect Zhang Guo is sentenced to one and a half years
阿里女员工案嫌犯张国被判一年半
Huaiyin district people's court in Jinan, the capital of eastern China's Shandong province, sentenced defendant Zhang Guo to one year and six months in prison for crime of indecent act in the first trial. In July 2021 Alibaba's female employee Miss Zhou reported being sexually harassed by the company's customer during a business trip to Jinan. Her post of accusation led to a heated debate online back then. The incident raised public concern over Alibaba's corporate culture, but some netizens suspected the incident was a frame-up. -- Lianhe Zaobao
#3 Part of Henan New Wealth Group's funds are transferred abroad
河南新财富部分资金被转移到境外
#4 Earthquake hits Afghanistan, causing 940 deaths -- AP
[Note: the latest death toll is at least 1,000, according to AP news.]
阿富汗地震已致940人死亡
#5 Russia becomes China's largest crude oil supplier
俄罗斯成中国最大原油供应国
#6 Wife of Yongding river hero speaks out
永定河救人遇难者妻子发声
"I tried to stop him, but he jumped into the river anyway." said the wife of Zhou Hongbo. On Sunday, Zhou and his wife saw three kids struggling in the Yongdidng river, Beijing. Zhou dived into the water and saved all three kids. However, the hero himself didn't make it. "We deeply regret the loss of life and deeply respect the courageous behavior," said Civil Affairs Bureau of local government, praising that Zhou and the other two rescuers used their own desperate rescue to hold up the hope of the future of three kids from two families, and warmed the city with their heroic deeds.
#7 Several provinces refute the rumor that "Math grades reached a record low in Gaokao this year."
多省辟谣今年高考数学均分创新低
As the day of announcing the results of the college entrance examination draws near, the so called "average maths grade" of Fujian, Jiangsu, Guangdong and other places are ciculating online. The rumor also said that average maths grades hit a record low. Authorities in these provinces refuted the "fake news", and claimed that they never published the average grade of any subject. -- people.cn
Gaokao, the college entrance examination, is widely seen as the most important examination of life in China. This year, 11.93 million students signed up for it, which is the highest in history.
#8 Heavy rains lead to waterlogging in many places of Guangdong province
广东多地暴雨引发洪水内涝
#9 The amount of money involved in the Xi Mihua case is up to 680 billion yuan (about 102 billion U.S. dollars )
洗米华涉案金额高达6800亿
Alvin Chau, a Macao entertainment tycoon nicknamed Xi Mihua, is to be on trial on September 2nd. There will be more than 90 prosecution witnesses, and the money involved in the case is up to 680 billion yuan. Macao authorities originally arrested him for illegal gambling and money laundering. The Macao Procuratorate said that there exists sufficient evidence of organized crime. If all the charges stand, Chau will be sentenced to 33 years in prison at most. -- NBD
#10 Parents ravished with joy at the moment of knowing their daughter's grades for the high school entrance examination
女儿中考成绩公布父母一秒进入狂喜
A video clip on Tuesday went viral on the internet. A girl calmly showed her parents grades for the high school entrance examination, her father excitedly bounced from the sofa and went into ecstasy. The contrast of the calm kid and overexcited parents amazed netizens. One comment said "It is touching, they are really happy for her. The girl definitely got very good grades." The other said"I can feel their happiness from the screen!" -- Video [in Chinese]
#3 Part of Henan New Wealth Group's funds are transferred abroad
The police confirmed that funds of Henan New Wealth Group were transferred out of China, but the specific amount is to be investigated.
Last Friday, authorities in Zhengzhou, the capital of central China's Henan province, launched an investigation on "depositers getting red codes for non-COVID related reasons." [Official notice, in Chinese]
China used a colored health code system in the fight against COVID-19, a red code signifies high level of COVID risk, meaning possible infection or close contacts. Those with red codes will be restricted to public transportation and public venues, and quarantine is needed. Read an article on China's colored health code system on Pekingnology.
Henan New Wealth Group suspected of manipulating four rural banks: local regulator -- Global Times
The public security bureau in Xuchang city, Henan, filed a case against Henan New Wealth Group for alleged criminal acts on April 19. Police in the city also announced on Saturday that a number of suspects have been arrested and a batch of assets involved has been frozen.
A preliminary probe showed that a group led by the group's actual controller was suspected of using the village banks to engage in illicit activities from 2011 onwards. The case is reportedly very complicated and involves a good number of people, according to an official notice released on Saturday.
Since April 18, clients of the four rural banks in Henan and one in neighboring Anhui Province found that they could not withdraw their cash. Subsequently, some of the clients complained that their digital health codes, which track people's travel and COVID-19 nucleic acid test information, turned red, including some clients who didn't visit Henan.
Depositors seeing red in Henan as probe made into possible bank fraud -- China Daily
Discipline inspection and supervision authorities in Zhengzhou announced the decision to investigate the matter on Friday afternoon.
Those who violate or abuse power in implementing Henan provincial health code management regulations for epidemic prevention and control will be held accountable and punished in accordance with the rules of the Communist Party of China and the law, the announcement said.
In a bulletin released by Zhengzhou discipline inspection commission on Wednesday, related officials who gave depositors red codes are held accountable and punished. It is reported that 1317 depositors of rural banks were given red codes, and 871 of them were not in Zhengzhou. [Official notice, in Chinese]
Professor Zhu Lijia of the Central Party School of Communist Party of China(National School of Administration) told China Newsweek that the notification of accountability may only be the first step, and it is a punishment based on the party discipline and political discipline. If further investigation shows that illegal crimes, such as dereliction of duty, and abuse of power are involved, the law enforcement will step in. Zhu said that the "red code" incident is very serious, it seriously undermined people's privacy, and seriously damaged the prestige of the party and the government, causing a bad social impact. ... Banyuetan has commented that no one, no department, has the authority to break out of the role set by the health code for public health and use the health code for other purposes.
It is clear that China's government took the incident seriously, and GRR believes things like health code abuse are not likely to happen again.
#5 Russia becomes China's largest crude oil supplier
China's Crude oil imports from Russia jumped by 55 percent year on year to 8.42 million tonnes in May, according to data released on Monday by China’s General Administration of Customs.
At present, China's crude oil imports from Russia surpassed that of Saudi Arabia, making Russia the biggest supplier of crude oil.
Russian officials believed that the increase was due to the substantial discount of Russia's crude oil, according to Russian media.
Reuters believed that China's increase of Russia's crude oil will help the country reduce imports from Brazil and countries in west Africa. It adds that discounts attracted customers from China and India. Due to sanctions from the west, Russia is willing to sell at the price of 30 to 40 dollars per barrel.
#8 Heavy rains lead to waterlogging in many places of Guangdong province
Heavy rains affect over 270,000 in south China's Guangdong -- Xinhua
About 274,000 residents have been affected by torrential rains in Guangdong Province, south China, the provincial emergency management department said Friday.
The cities of Shaoguan, Heyuan, Meizhou, Zhaoqing and Qingyuan have seen natural disasters such as rainstorms, floods and landslides, resulting in the relocation of 15,200 people.
Guangdong authorities have sent 22,600 pieces of relief supplies including tents, folding beds, towels, blankets, clothes, mobile lighting facilities, water purifiers and generators to the worst-hit areas of Shaoguan and Heyuan.
The provincial flood control headquarters have upgraded the emergency alert to the second highest level, considering upstream incoming water and weather forecast of heavy rainfall.
According to www.xhby.net, 27.13 hectares of crops were damaged, 1729 houses collapsed, and the direct economic loss reached 1.756 billion yuan.
Persistent heavy rain not only hit Guangdong province hard. Other provinces in southern China, including Jiangxi, Fujian, and Hunan, also faced pouring rain and floods in recent weeks.
Former Deputy Director of China Meteorological Administration (CMA) Xu Xiaofeng explained the reasons for downpours in South China in an interview with southcn.com:
The climatic characteristics of persistent rainfalls in South China in 2022 are closely related to the La Niña event, which is currently ongoing in the central-eastern equatorial Pacific. This La Niña event began in the fall of 2021, and "this is the second consecutive La Niña year, with slow decay and phase strengthening at present," he explained.
For Guangdong province, the torrential rain is coming to an end, according to National Meteorological Center of CMA. But the rain belt will head north affecting provinces in north China and the northeast, according to China Meteorological Administration.
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