Trending in Beijing: Ex-Con Killed With Own Knife, China's Social Credit Ramps Up, Beijing ‘Train Tyrant’ Strikes Back

A wrap-up of the top stories and hashtags Beijing netizens and local media have been posting on Chinese social media this week, exclusively for the Beijinger by What’s on Weibo editor-in-chief Manya Koetse. 
 

Fatal Road Rage Incident with Bizarre Plot Twist  

What is "legitimate self-defense"?

Without a doubt, the biggest topic being discussed on WeChat and Weibo this week, from Beijing all the way to Jiangsu’s Kunshan, is a bizarre road-rage incident in which a muscular and tattooed BMW driver attacked a cyclist with a big knife – but ended up dead himself. 

The incident, which occurred on Monday evening (Aug 27), went viral on Chinese social media this week, and had already gathered 390 million views on Weibo by Wednesday. By Thursday, it had accumulated a staggering 760 million views, rising to 850 million at time of writing.

It is somewhat rare for one local news item to gain this much attention among Chinese netizens. One of the main reasons for the mass focus on this incident is that there is an ethical question involved, namely: to what extent is regarded as legitimate self-defense?

On Monday evening, the incident started when a BMW driver in Kunshan turned into a bike line, colliding with a cyclist who refused to give way. Surveillance videos (YouTube link as most Weibo videos have been removed by now) show how passengers get out of the car to get the man out of the bicycle lane before the BMW driver jumps from the car and starts fighting the cyclist. 

He then runs back to the car, pulls out a long knife, and starts attacking the cyclist with it. In the heat of the moment, the knife drops to the ground and is quickly picked up by the cyclist, who then starts using it against his attacker. In the final moments of the fight, which are not caught on camera, the BMW driver drops on the ground due to his injuries. He is later declared dead.

It now turns out the BMW driver, who had been drinking that night, is the somewhat notorious 36-year-old Mr. Liu, aka ‘Brother Long’ (龙哥). Liu was known to have criminal records, and served multiple years in prison in Beijing and elsewhere for crimes involving robbery, blackmail, theft, and another knife attack.  

Mr. Yu, the 41-year-old cyclist involved in the incident, is currently detained by police. According to various expert opinions highlighted in Chinese media, the cyclist could allegedly face up to ten years in prison for killing his attacker, since Yu might have overstepped his bounds when he picked up the knife and struck back at Liu.

On Weibo, however, an overwhelming majority of people side with the cyclist, saying: “It’s clear that the BMW driver, no matter what his history is, brought this upon himself.” 

The incident has triggered a flood of memes and cartoons on Chinese social media in support of the cyclist. Many netizens compare the incident to a video game, where concepts as ‘karma’ and ‘game over’ are much less complicated than in real life.  

Images of the injured cyclist are also circulating on Weibo, calling him “Brother Long’s Terminator” (龙哥终结者).

Chinese netizens are currently holding a crowd-funding campaign for the detained cyclist to cover for his legal bills in the times to come. 

Update: As of Saturday evening, Sep 1, Yu's killing of Long has been ruled as self-defense.
 

No Star-Rated Hotels for Those on Beijing’s “Blacklist” 

China's social credit system enters its next phase in the capital

This week, multiple state media sources have been reporting about the further development of Beijing’s social credit system. At present, people have open access to the website “Credit Beijing” where they, amongst other things, can look up which companies and/or individuals are blacklisted. 

Under the Beijing Commission of Tourism Development, the travel industry is now also part of the social credit system, collecting credit records of tourists and those working in the Beijing travel industry. 

ECNS reports that people with poor social credit records will now be barred from booking rooms at star-rated hotels. They will also be denied participating in more luxurious group tours in Beijing.

People who are put on the public blacklist, for example, due to serious misbehavior or promise-breaching or because they have not complied with court orders, will be subject to various restrictions. This already included a ban from traveling by air or train, and now thus also includes overnight stays in one of Beijing’s many star-rated hotels.  

China’s Social Credit system is currently not yet a national one – it is outlined to be implemented nationwide by 2020. Cities such as Hangzhou, Nanjing, Xiamen, Chengdu or Suzhou have already been experimenting with Social Credit system for a longer time than Beijing has. 
 

The “Train Tyrant” is Back Again 

It seems China's most infamous train passenger hasn't learned from his mistakes

Talking about being on Beijing’s blacklist – remember last week’s big trending topic of the man who refused to give up the seat he took from another passenger on the G334 express train to Beijing? The man, who was dubbed “High-Speed Train Tyrant” (高铁霸座男 gāotiě bà zuò nán) by Chinese media, and has since been blacklisted for the misdemeanor, is back again.

A video of the man’s rude and bizarre behavior on the express train went viral last week when the man stole someone else’s seat and then pretended he could not get up. He even claimed he needed a wheelchair – although he did not need one when boarding the train. 

Soon after the video went viral, the man became the target of an online manhunt and his identity was revealed. He publicly apologized for his behavior on Chinese social media, but still received a fine and was thus put on a blacklist that temporarily bans him from traveling by train. 

But his remorse apparently did not last long. A new video has now emerged of the man, who has a doctorate degree in economics, in which he uses an office chair as a ‘wheelchair’ and jokes around.

“I’m back, hello everyone!” he first says in the video. In another scene, he sits in his ‘wheelchair’ with bare chest, laughing and waving, even referring to the Kunshan road-rage incident, asking “Brother Long” to push his wheelchair!

The video soon went viral again on Friday, with people calling the man “shameless,” saying he obviously has no remorse or respect for other people. One of the reasons many people seem upset is that this well-educated Chinese man does not care about the concept of “face” (面子 miànzi) or “losing face” at all. 

This poses a stark contrast with another story that went viral earlier this week, where a female doctor was so overwhelmed with becoming the target of an online witch hunt that she, tragically, committed suicide. 

There are also some netizens, however, who see this as yet another reason for new memes, even creating images of Brother Long pushing the Train Tyrant – truly turning Chinese social media in an online game. 

By Manya Koetse @manyapan
What’s on Weibo editor-in-chief

Manya Koetse is the editor-in-chief of www.whatsonweibo.com. She is a writer and consultant (Sinologist, MPhil) on social trends in China, with a focus on social media and digital developments, popular culture, and gender issues.

Images: Weibo