Trending searches on Weibo: Plane Crash; Cyber attack; COVID rules
The flight tipped into a deadly dive and didn't respond to air traffic controllers
It has been an emotionally difficult two days in China following the air disaster. Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered all-out search and rescue efforts after the plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China on Monday afternoon.
The People's Daily, the Xinhua News Agency and the China Media Group all did live webcast at the site of the crash on Douying (the Chinese equivalent to TikTok) throughout the day.
Today's trending topics on Twitter-like Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo is mainly about the plan crash, the cyber attack and China's COVID-19 related rules. Please note that the top 10 topics were not selected by Ginger River, but from the report dynamically displayed on Weibo.
Tuesday's top 10 trending searches on Weibo as of 7:00 p.m. (1100 GMT):
1.Battery life of aircraft black box is about 30 days
飞机黑匣子电池可使用30天左右
2.Evidence of U.S. use of top cyber weapons against China was aired by Chinese cybersecurity firm 360
美国对中国使用顶级网络武器证据曝光
3.China temporarily includes COVID-19 antigen tests in medical insurance
新冠病毒抗原检测临时性纳入医保
4.It's raining at the site of the plane crash
坠机现场下雨了
5.Couple sold pork as beef after dyeing it and made more than 800,000 yuan (about 126,000 U.S. dollars) profit from it
夫妻将猪肉上色当牛肉卖获利80余万
Follow-up: The couple were sentenced to a fine and imprisonment.
6.A young auxiliary police officer carried a girl who choked for a nut and dashed to the hospital -- video
95后辅警抱窒息女孩咆哮狂奔送医
7. A note with wishes for peace and safety was found at the site of the plane crash
坠机现场写着平安扣的纸条
8.Is the weakening of the desire to share a sign of the beginning of couples breaking up?
分享欲减少是散场的开始吗
Explainer: It's an online discussion about the ending of a relationship
9.Go to China's Henan Province to try the local high carbohydrate diet
想去河南感受一下碳水
Explainer: A blogger named "Tianxiu bot" posted a video about the food in Henan, sharing ideas to try delicious local high carbohydrate food
10.The Chinese badminton team reported a few positive COVID-19 cases -- Xinhua
部分中国羽毛球队员新冠阳性
Follow-up: The Chinese team has withdrawn from the 2022 YONEX Swiss Open.
#1,#4,#7 Passenger plane carrying 132 crashes in south China
The China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft, which departed from Kunming and was bound for Guangzhou, crashed into a mountainous area near the Molang village in Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou at 2:38 p.m., causing a mountain fire.
All-out search for black boxes of crashed passenger plane underway: official -- Xinhua
Rescuers are making all-out efforts to retrieve the black boxes of a passenger plane with 132 people aboard that crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Monday afternoon, an official with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said Tuesday night.
The plane was severely damaged and the investigation is very difficult, Zhu Tao, head of CAAC aviation safety office, told a press briefing.
Based on known information, the authorities do not yet have a clear clue to the cause of the passenger plane crash, the official said.
China Plane Crash Update: Official Briefing; Belongings Found -- BloombergQuint
Boeing’s shares fell 3.6% Monday as investors worried about fallout from the crash and subsequent investigation. The slide was the biggest in two weeks and nearly doubled its 2022 decline. While the China Eastern plane was not a 737 Max, the latest accident is renewing questions about the planemaker’s safety culture as the Max nears a possible return to commercial flights in China.
U.S. names investigator as representative to China Boeing 737-800 crash probe -- Reuters
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Monday it had appointed a senior air safety investigator as a U.S. accredited representative to the investigation of the crash of a China Eastern Airlines (600115.SS) Boeing 737-800 near Wuzhou, China.
#2. Evidence of U.S. use of top cyber weapons against China was aired by Chinese cybersecurity firm 360
美国对中国使用顶级网络武器证据曝光
Chinese cybersecurity experts for the first time disclosed a typical weapon used by US National Security Agency (NSA) to target China. The weapon can monitor and hijack users' social media accounts, emails and communication information, the Global Times learned from a leading cybersecurity company exclusively on Tuesday.
In early March, 360 provided a series of evidence to prove that the NSA targeted the communications industry and other key areas, and hundreds of millions of citizens around the world had no safe place to hide their private and sensitive information, just like "running naked." China, as one of NSA's top targets, suffered millions of attacks.
According to a report published by 360 on Tuesday, Quantum attack is a cyber hijacking tool that the NSA especially designed for attacking users on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Amazon and other websites. Users of Chinese social media applications such as QQ, developed by Tencent, have also been a key target.
In addition, as the Pekingnologist noted, the Chinese cybersecurity firm summarized its observation on February 26 on recent but carefully planned cyberattacks against Ukraine, to create chaos, hinder communication, debilitate Ukrainian government, civil society, and military targets, noting massive fishing attacks against Ukrainian users since 2021 year end by suspected APT groups.
#3.China temporarily includes COVID-19 antigen tests in medical insurance
新冠病毒抗原检测临时性纳入医保
China temporarily includes COVID-19 antigen tests in medical insurance -- Xinhua
Expenses occurred at designated grassroots medical institutions should be settled pursuant to existing provisions of social pooling units while the cost for antigen testing reagents at designated retail pharmacies can be covered by individual accounts, said the National Healthcare Security Administration in a circular issued on Monday.
Is making antigen testing reagents available at retail pharmacies for individuals a sign that China is about to change its "dynamic zero-COVID-19 policy"? Not yet at least.
Liang Wannian, head of the COVID-19 response expert panel under China's National Health Commission, reiterated that it is a must for China to stick to its dynamic zero-COVID approach in the face of mounting anti-epidemic pressure from both at home and abroad, at a press conference Tuesday. -- Xinhua
Ginger River also translated part of a recent CCTV's interview with Liang. The highlights are by Ginger River.
在近日的《新闻1+1》节目中,白岩松提问到:国外很多国家已经取消了防疫政策,为什么我们不可以这么做?‘坚持防疫’还要坚持多久?
Question: Many foreign countries have abolished their epidemic control policies, so why can't we do the same? How long will China's current epidemic prevention and control policy last?
梁万年:我们主要是通过主动的疫苗免疫来增强抵抗力,来构建免疫屏障。但是从国际上来看,一些国家选择“躺平”是两种免疫并存的,一个是通过自然免疫,也就是群体的感染,可以说已经有相当比例的民众感染了新冠病毒,另一个是通过主动的疫苗免疫。
Liang: We mainly rely on vaccine immunization to enhance resistance and build up the immune barrier. Some countries choosing to 躺平 "lie flat", which means "skate by", or "quit", have completed two kinds of immunization: one is natural immunity, or herd infection. It can be said that a significant proportion of the population in these countries has been infected with COVID-19. The other one is vaccine immunization.
在这种情况下,如果中国也选择“躺平”,不坚持动态清零,尤其是当前疫苗接种率,特别是全程和加强针的接种率还不完全高,不足以构成坚固的免疫屏障,势必就会使群体庞大的老人、弱势和脆弱人群容易造成感染。
Liang: In this case, if China also chooses to 躺平 lie flat, and does not adhere to the dynamic zero-COVID-19 policy when the current vaccination rate, especially the full and booster vaccination rate is not high enough to establish a solid immunization barrier, it will inevitably make the large group of elderly and vulnerable people easy to get infected.
在这种情况下,我们就要坚持动态清零方针,坚持我们的策略和措施不动摇,这也是我们的一个时间窗口。如果我们加强疫苗接种、加快科技研发,包括药物的研发、疫苗的研发,我想我们也有可能有一个时机,可能奥密克戎又变了,变得更加温和,传播率和致病率更加低,那就是我们最好的机会。所以在现阶段我们坚持总策略总方针不变,应该是最佳选择,也符合中国的抗疫实际。
Liang: In this case, we have to adhere to the dynamic zero-COVID-19 approach, adhere to our strategy and measures without wavering, and this is also a time window for us. If we can strengthen vaccination, accelerate scientific and technological research and development, including the research and development of drugs and vaccines, I think at some point we may find Omicron has changed again, becoming more mild, and the transmission rate and morbidity become even lower, then that is our best opportunity. So at this stage, we insist that the general strategy and general policy remain unchanged, which should be the best choice and in line with China's anti-epidemic reality.
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Explainer: For people who are unfamiliar with 微博热搜 hot search on Weibo, conceptually, the ranking of the hot searches is updated once every minute by calculating the popularity level of a certain topic during a certain time of period (12 hours, for instance). Because Weibo didn't unveil its full algorithm for its hot search ranking, Ginger River cannot give you a perfect answer. Similar situation applies to rankings of WeChat and Douyin.
Disclaimer: Analysis contained in this newsletter reflects the personal views of Ginger River, not those of Xinhua.
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