🔥 China Trend Watch — Week 48–49 (2025)
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Chongqing has been a unique experience — a city in China that has been on my to-visit list for years. Its “cyberpunk” reputation doesn’t really do it justice. There’s this beautiful tension between its old history (century-old stairs, wartime tunnels) and the full speed of the future (neon lights, incredible skyscrapers), with the streets actually smelling like hotpot – such a special mix (or is that, perhaps, just what cyberpunk actually is?!).
Photos by me: View over Chongqing’s Shibati area, and toymachines in a wartime bomb shelter near Libazi.
This time, it was the city’s WWII history that finally pushed me to visit, as I’m on a research trip through several major cities that played important roles in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War — a topic that has become increasingly relevant over the past few months. I’ve already visited some fascinating places, from the former residence of General Stilwell to Chiang Kai-shek’s air-raid shelters and wartime military headquarters. Today I’ll be heading to some war-related museums in Nanjing. More on that later.
I will get back into my normal routine next week when I return from travels.
Let’s dive in.
Quick Scroll
🇨🇳 The 2025 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA), one of the biggest K-pop award shows, sparked online backlash this week after netizens discovered that the event’s voting interface listed Hong Kong and Taiwan as separate countries in its selection menu. Seen as violating the ‘One China’ principle, netizens criticized MAMA for being disrespectful to China (meanwhile, the event was actually held in Hong Kong).
💰 As part of a national childcare subsidy plan announced earlier this year (initiated to boost China’s dropping birth rates and support low-income families), parents across the country are now receiving their initial 3,600 yuan ($508) payouts (per child aged 0–3 per year), creating an online buzz and reminding other parents to apply if they haven’t yet.
👀 Move over 5G…the 6G era is nearing! China has completed its first real-world testing trial of 6G applications. Being 100x faster than 5G, it’s the future mobile standard. Commercial use is planned for 2030.
🎬 Zootopia 2 is everywhere right now and has broken records in China with a US$267 million box office in 5 days. But despite its success there’s also been some backlash over the decision to cast celebrity actors for the main characters in the Chinese version instead of professional voice actors. Fans of the movie felt the performances were subpar, leading fans of the celebrities to defend them.
🚹 The 57-year-old Chinese actor and singer Sun Hao (孙浩) made headlines this week, and not for his latest work — but for getting caught urinating in public after a dinner with friends. The incident has triggered discussions about how (un)acceptable it is to pee on the street, and how celebrities should set the right example.
🛸 Blending classic Chinese humor with sci-fi elements, the new Chinese urban comedy Sarcastic Family (毒舌舌家) has become an online hit. The comedy is about a mother and daughter from another galaxy who become an unconventional family on planet Earth when the daughter marries a Chinese man, joined in a household by his father and her own outer-space mom.
What Really Stood Out This Week
1. The Hong Kong Wang Fuk Court Fire
[#宏福苑火灾#] [#香港火灾#]
The catastrophic residential fire at Hong Kong’s Wang Fuk Court in the city’s Tai Po district (香港大埔) has become the deadliest blaze in Hong Kong in 80 years.
The fire, which broke out on Wednesday at 14:51 local time, spread so quickly that it soon covered a total of seven residential towers. Initially, news came out that the fire had killed at least 13 and injured 28, but the figures soon kept rising. At the time of writing, the official death toll is 151, with 30 people still missing. A total of eleven people have now been arrested in relation to the fire, including two directors of the consultancy firm in charge of the renovation project that was taking place at Wang Fuk Court.
On Chinese social media, the fire has been top-trending news for days. One major point of discussion has been how the fire could have spread so rapidly; what started as a smaller blaze turned into an inferno within minutes. As part of exterior maintenance work, the buildings were covered in bamboo scaffolding and protective netting. Dry weather and strong winds contributed to the rapid spread. Residents said they had repeatedly seen construction workers smoking at the site.
Online conversations initially focused on the bamboo scaffolding, which is traditionally used in construction in Hong Kong for its flexibility and fire resistance. Soon, conversations shifted, blaming the flammable material used in the netting, as well as the styrofoam insulation used to seal windows. Although there are voices speaking out against misinformation regarding the flammability of bamboo, some commenters still point to the bamboo for intensifying the fire and making rescue operations more difficult.
Another issue is the fire system. A former security supervisor alleged the estate’s fire systems were frequently switched off. The claim, reported by local media, has intensified scrutiny and public concern over estate safety management.
From the comment section…
What stands out in these discussions on the fire is that people are also tying it to deeper-rooted issues in Hong Kong. Since it’s Hong Kong, there’s arguably some more online room for discussion on such a topic. One Weibo blogger named ‘Jinshu Sister’ wrote: “The blaze exposed two very different worlds within ‘glamorous’ (光鲜) Hong Kong: one world is the fast-moving international metropolis, a playground for capital and elites. The other world consists of citizens living in decades-old buildings. Their hopes of improving their housing have been repeatedly delayed due to practical difficulties, such as costly maintenance fees and the complicated procedures of owners’ corporations. A truly great city is not defined by how many world-class skyscrapers it has, but by whether it can protect the life and safety of every ordinary person living in it.”
2. Living Together Now Counts as “Family Members”
[#婚前同居算家庭成员#] [#同居 重婚#]
Image by state media outlet CNR: “Living together before marriage is also belongs to [the category of] family members.”
A new legal interpretation of what counts as a “family” has been drawing intense discussions on social media over the past week. On November 25, China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate announced that couples in stable “premarital cohabitation relationships” — living together with the intent to marry — can now be legally recognized as family members under criminal law.
The move is meant to protect victims of domestic abuse and help prosecute abusers within the context of the Anti-Domestic Violence Law. Forms of abuse beyond physical injury (e.g. mental abuse) will also be recognized as domestic violence.
The announcement has sparked heated debates as people began worrying about their current relationships being legally defined as a de facto marriage, with various implications regarding spousal obligations, property rights, and financial issues — including concerns that partners might suddenly be treated as legally responsible for each other’s debts. In recent years, there have been increasing discussions about women marrying to shift their personal debts onto their husbands (there’s even a word for it).
But legal experts on social media say there’s no need to panic: people still need to be legally married to be designated as an official married couple, with all marital obligations and benefits. They emphasize that the current revision is mainly meant to standardize the handling of domestic violence cases nationwide — especially at a time when more young Chinese are delaying marriage and choosing to live together. In the past, there have been cases of men severely abusing their live-in girlfriends, but because they were not legally married, such incidents were treated merely as “ordinary disputes among citizens.”
From the comment section…
In light of the many trending stories over the past years concerning domestic violence, you might expect more support for this legal revision. However, people have doubts about how cohabitation will actually be defined in court. One commenter on Weibo wrote: “How should it be defined? If you have sex once a week, is that considered cohabitation? If you stay together for one week every month, is that considered cohabitation? If you have long-term sexual relations but leave after it’s over and don’t sleep together at night, is that cohabitation? There is only one answer: discretionary power (自由裁量权). If the judge says it is cohabitation, then it is cohabitation. Since cohabitation makes you ‘family members,’ can the other party then take half of the house?”
3. Japanese Concerts in China Hit by Sino-Japanese Tensions
[#外交部回应日本歌手演唱会被取消#]
Over the past weekend, video footage showing how a concert by Japanese artist Maki Otsuki was suddenly and quite dramatically stopped while she was singing on stage — the lights were turned off, her mic was taken away, and she was escorted off — popped up all over WeChat and beyond (see video on X), followed by various write-ups on the incident, which were soon taken offline.
Ayumi Hamasaki, another famous Japanese artist, also saw her Shanghai concert — 14,000 tickets sold — canceled just a day before the show. Although there was not a single audience member, she performed anyway, leaving her performing alone in an empty venue. She posted about it herself (see photos), expressing sadness over the elaborate stage setup prepared by 200 staff members over several days that now had to be dismantled without the concert ever taking place.
The “lights out” moment for Otsuki, Hamasaki, and many other Japanese artists and musicians in China was attributed to “force majeure” (因不可抗力) in venue statements coming from Beijing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, and beyond. It comes amid heightened tensions between Japan and China following Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s November 7 remarks suggesting that Chinese actions regarding Taiwan could prompt a military defense response from Tokyo, which infuriated China for “intervening in China’s sovereignty” and has been an ongoing major topic ever since.
On December 1, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian responded to questions about the cancellations during a regular press briefing by saying that reporters should inquire with the Chinese organizers of these events instead — providing no comments on the official reasons behind the wave of abrupt cancellations, which appear to have stemmed from a sweeping directive from Chinese authorities to halt Japanese cultural events.
It’s not only the music and event industry that’s been affected by recent escalations. Chinese airlines have sharply reduced flights to Japan in December, and Japanese movie releases in China have been postponed as well.
From the comment section…
There have been mixed reactions following the wave of cancellations. Despite anti-Japanese sentiments online, many people also feel this move unfairly impacts Chinese companies and consumers. Political commentator Hu Xijin addressed the issue, writing: “First, this demonstrates China’s resolve to strengthen sanctions against Japan by cancelling performances by Japanese artists coming to China, and that certainly generates a positive effect. But at the same time, Chinese performance companies will face costs from breaching contracts and from the upfront investments already made; the city of Shanghai and its transportation sector lose a piece of consumption; some audience members who had already traveled from other places to Shanghai are left with nothing; and many ticket holders, especially those who planned to travel from other cities, had their weekend plans disrupted. Taken together, all of these are losses on China’s side.”
Phrase of the Week
Returning to China next week [下周回国] (xià zhōu huíguó)
“Returning to China next week” has been a popular phrase for years in relation to tech entrepreneur Jia Yueting (贾跃亭), who departed China during the 2017 collapse of his LeEco tech company, leaving behind billions in debt.
While going on to found and lead EV startup Faraday Future (FF) in California, Jia repeatedly told Chinese audiences that he would return “next week.” When next week became next month, next year, and eventually never, “returning to China next week” became a running joke on social media, representing big promises with zero follow-up.
Now, Jia has again made headlines after announcing ambitious new plans for the future of FF and autonomous driving. Not only does Jia intend to cooperate with Tesla, he also said that FF and FX (the company’s second brand targeted at the mass market) have a five-year sales target of 500,000 cars. FF’s technology partner AIXC is the newly listed AI x Crypto company that is supposed to shake up the market. Jia’s business strategy has apparently pivoted to trying to create a tech + AI + crypto ecosystem in which each business strengthens the other.
Jia’s latest plans add to the series of grandiose promises that have made him a recurring character in Chinese online discussions. Although often mocked, there is also fascination in how Jia continues to stay in the headlines and attract new investments, seemingly without end.
Of course, after all this, netizens still wonder: “But will he still return to China next week?”
On the Feed
A screenshot showing a cheeky comment from an unexpected account has gone mega viral this week. The comment was made on Douyin by an official local government account in relation to a new law on sealing minor-offence records.
The revised section of the Public Security Administration Law, taking effect on January 1, 2026, adds the possibility of sealing certain administrative violations. Online, people mostly connected this to drug-related offences, wondering whether it would allow people whose names are tied to drug-related penalties to now have their records sealed.
Under a social media post about this issue, the official account of Nantong’s Culture & Tourism Bureau replied: “Which young master was caught using [drugs]?”（“哪位少爷吸了”), jokingly suggesting that the law has been introduced to protect certain individuals from powerful families.
The edgy remark sent the Nantong Tourism Bureau account’s followers up by nearly 1.5 million overnight, eventually adding a total of around 4 million new fans. And although the comment was soon deleted, it has boosted the visibility of Nantong, with some supporters suggesting that if its cultural bureau dares to make such bold remarks, the city itself might be worth a visit.
The moment shows that it only takes a tiny comment to go viral, and that, perhaps, Nantong now has a job opening for a new social media manager to entertain their millions of new followers with content that’s a bit less edgy.😅
Thanks for reading this Eye on Digital China China Trend Watch. For slower-moving trends and deeper structural analysis, keep an eye on the upcoming newsletters.
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Many thanks and credits to Miranda Barnes and Ruixin Zhang for helping curate the topics in this edition.
— Manya
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