Trending in Beijing: Power Cuts, Douying Volume and More

The fun, the strange, and the what-on-earth-is-this? Trending in Beijing is a wrap-up of top stories in Beijing as told by the trending hashtags, local press, and general power of the internet.

Will Beijing face a power cut in the following week?

Earlier this week, a heated discussion about energy rationing in several provinces spread across social media, as posts with titles like “Power Cut Plan for Beijing” picked up steam and folks grew increasingly concerned that the capital would face similarly stringent rules over electricity usage. 

At some point, CCTV felt compelled to step in and released an official response explaining that the power cuts were not meant to give China the upper hand in commodity pricing, as some conspiracists claimed, but was purely due to coal shortages. 

Likewise, before the controversy and ensuing anxiety could balloon even further, State Grid Beijing Electricity Company traced the source of the confusion to an announcement they had made about safety checks that would take place between Sep 27 and Oct 3. The company further clarified that such checks are routine, to ensure that the grid is running smoothly and safely. Needless to say, the planned power cuts have nothing to do with restrictions on electricity usage, and the current grid will have no difficulty meeting the capital's electricity needs.

From high school graduate to homespun pharmacist, a "breaking good" story

Years ago, a Chinese movie entitled Dying to Survive impressed viewers both in and out of China with its heartfelt plot based on true events about some patients with leukemia who launched a smuggling ring to source cheaper generic drugs. 

Well, this week, a similar story stroked the public’s lacrimal gland: A father with no schooling beyond a high school diploma studied to become an apothecary expert and set up his own laboratory so that he could produce medicine for his 2-year-old son suffering from a rare genetic disorder. Incidentally, doctors are currently developing a treatment to slow down the disease's progression, however, those efforts were put on hold last year during the COVID-19 pandemic. Figuring his son didn't have the gift of time, the father dove headfirst into his research, desperate to find a way of saving his boy’s life. Now, after countless trials and failures, it seems he's managed to somewhat steady his son’s condition, though it will require a comprehensive gene treatment to fully cure him. 

Meanwhile, most netizens have been in tears over the heartfelt story and even a number of medical professionals are in awe of his dedication and resilience. Having said that, they also stressed that what this father did was a personal choice under extraordinary circumstances and that it is, in fact, extremely dangerous. 

Douyin rolls out high volume warning function

Douyin, China's version of TikTok (for what it's worth TikTok is technically the West's version of Douyin, but we digress), has proven a formidable opponent of productivity, relentlessly squeezing every last drop out of people’s spare time and further infiltrating every aspect of life. Just take a look around the office, subway, dining table, or bathroom – actually, don't look in the bathroom – and you'll see people mindlessly scrolling, waiting for the next clip of momentary stimulation and satisfaction.

Now, of course, how someone wants to spend their free time is entirely their own choice. But apparently, that choice has started impeding on others, largely in the form of noisy TikTok videos being watched at full volume in public spaces, which has even led to some physical altercations. In response, Bytedance, Douyin's parent company, released a "high volume warning function." Essentially, when someone is using the app without headphones and turns the volume up to a certain level, a notification will remind them that their behavior may affect others. At which point the user can either lower the volume or, unfortunately, simply ignore it.

READ: With National Day Around The Corner, Time for Subway Station Closures

Image: Douyin, Sohu, Weibo, Linuxdiyx