Top trending searches on Weibo: Olympics; Bilibili; Man buys 100 bear dolls

This newsletter gives you a rundown of the top ten most popular searches on Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media network, on Thursday.

I feel that social media trends is a crucial aspect of understanding China for outsiders, and a ranking table of hot searches is a simple and objective approach to reflect what Chinese people care about and where their attention is focused. For the three most popular, I included further information, as well as news and video links for some of the others. 

Today's Top 10 Trending Searchers on Weibo:

1. S. Korean Hwang says race on Wednesday cleanest one

2. Blogger disclosing sudden death of young employee working for Bilibili receives lawyer's letter

3. Winter Olympics in microscopic view

4. Ju Jingyi (Kiku) joins cast of TV series Chinese Paladin Ⅳ

5. Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan to compete with Jin Boyang of China in men's free skate

6. Lithuanian president to ask for permanent US troop presence - Reuters

7. Lim Hyo-jun, a Chinese naturalized ‘Lin Xiaojun,’ says "wait me back" after failing to participate in Beijing Winter Olympics

8. A man buys 100 bear dolls, puts them all over yard after finishing paying off debts - Video

9. Box office of comedy "Too Cool To Kill," surpasses $267 mln - Preview

10. S. Korean Hwang claims 1,500m short track gold at Beijing 2022 - Xinhua

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1. S. Korean Hwang Dae-heon says race on Wednesday cleanest one 黄大宪称这是一场干净的比赛

Hwang Dae-heon of South Korea claimed the men's 1,500m title in two minutes and 9.219 seconds at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Wednesday. "In today's race, it was the cleanest race, and that was our strategy as well, so that's why we could have this great result," he said.

Chinese Embassy in South Korea on Thursday congratulated Hwang after he claimed the first gold medal for South Korea, which came following a fierce controversy between Chinese and South Korean netizens over penalties on Hwang and another South Korean skater during the 1,000-meter semifinal on Monday. - Global Times

Hwang and teammate Lee Juneseo were disqualified in the semifinals of the 1,000 two days earlier. That triggered the South Korean contingent to complain to the International Skating Union and International Olympic Committee about the referee’s judgment. - Associated Press

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the China-South Korea diplomatic ties.

2. Blogger disclosing sudden death of young employee working for Bilibili receives lawyer's letter 爆料25岁审核员猝死博主最新发声

On Wednesday, @Wangluobei, who had exposed the sudden death of "a 25-year-old employee who worked overtime for Chinese online platform Bilibili during the Chinese New Year holiday" said that he had received a letter from the dead's colleague saying "I saw that the company had deleted the overtime records of the dead on the time sheet."

@Wangluobei, the self-proclaimed Bilibili's employee, said the dead person was discussing his work at 2 a.m. during the Chinese New Year holiday.

Bilibili responded to netizens late Tuesday night (as shown in the screenshot above) that the company has never erased or altered attendance or overtime records on the time sheet. @Wangluobei confirmed that he had received Bilibili's lawyer's letter.

Last year, China’s top court has ruled that the controversial “996” overtime work policy (working 9 am to 9 pm, 6 days a week) is illegal, taking aim at the excessive working hours commonly practiced at Chinese Internet companies.

3. Winter Olympics in microscopic view 微观北京冬奥

"Winter Olympics in microscopic view" #微观北京冬奥# is a hashtag campaign hosted by Chinanews.com, which has generated 310 million views on Wednesday by 3:27 p.m. “Microscopic view" 微观 in Chinese has similar pronunciation as the Chinese words 围观，which means "gathering round to watch." Chinese and foreign winter sports stars such as Eileen Gu and Yuzuru Hanyu have brought many Chinese netizens’ attention these days.