A 13-year-old Chinese boy was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis, a life-threatening condition, after being asked to do 1,000 squats as punishment during summer camp.

Ms. Lu, a mother-of-one from Jining, in China’s Shandong Province, recently revealed the tragic story of how her teenage son suffered a corporeal punishment that threatened to leave him disabled for life. It all happened last summer when the boy was enrolled in a 7-day camp where he could interact with other kids and engage in physical activities. Everything was fine until graduation day when the parents received pictures from the ceremony in which their son had visibly red eyes and a sad expression. His father noticed that one of the boy’s legs appeared limp, but when they asked the camp organizers about him, they were told everything was alright. It was only when they went to pick him up that they realized the seriousness of the situation. Their 13-year-old boy was waiting for them on a stool because he could barely stand up.

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A Chinese man who frequently used a massage gun on his face and eyes had to undergo surgery after suffering lens dislocation and developing cataracts at the age of 42.

Mr. Luo, a fitness enthusiast from Wuhan, in Central China, purchased a battery-powered massage gun at the recommendation of a fitness instructor who told him it would work wonders on his tired muscles. After hitting the gym every two days, Luo was looking for a way to relax, and the massage gun proved incredibly effective. So much so that at one point, the 42-year-old man decided to use it on his eyes as well. Due to his busy work schedule, Luo’s eyes always felt tired and dry, so he thought that the massage gun would have the same effect on his eyes as it did on his muscles. He was wrong!

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A Chinese woman went viral on social media last week after uploading a short clip of herself with her young granddaughter, leaving people gushing over her youthful appearance.

The Tianjin-based beauty caused such a stir on Chinese social media that multiple outlets sought her out for an interview about her incredibly youthful looks. The unnamed woman, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that she was shocked by the attention her short video got on Weibo and other social networks, claiming that she just wanted to show off her beloved granddaughter. She never imagined that her appearance would cause such a stir online. The woman said that she was in her 40s, and that she had her daughter at a very young age, which allowed her to become a grandma at an age when many women today are only starting to consider having a baby.

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Li Jiayue is a talented young artist from China’s Sichuan province who specializes in extremely detailed three-dimensional optical illusions.

Growing up in Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County, Lia Jiayue has always been passionate about art, and despite majoring in electrical automation, it was no surprise to anyone who knew him that he opted for an artistic career. He focused most of his time on developing unique and eye-catching optical illusions, where he camouflaged various objects like lamp posts, tree trunks, and even large buildings in the background using his expert painting skills. Li made a name for himself on Chinese video-sharing platform Douyin (TikTok), but he has also been featured on mainstream television over the last few years.

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A Chinese man who built a pontoon bridge for an isolated village using his own money was fined multiple times and ultimately given prison time for the unauthorized structure.

Before 2005, Zhenlin Village, in Northern China’s Jilin Province, was completely cut off by the Taoer River, with locals having to travel around 70 kilometers to the nearest bridge. However, everything changed when a villager by the name of Huang Deyi, who had previously operated a small ferry to and from the village, decided to do what the regional authorities wouldn’t – build a small bridge across the river. The rudimentary pontoon bridge was welcomed by the community, and people were more than happy to pay a small toll to Huang for using it, as it was much cheaper and less time consuming than driving 70 km to the nearest authorized bridge. Business was good, and in 2014, Huang Deyo along with 17 other villagers improved the bridge by welding together 13 metal boats so it could support heavier vehicles, but four years later, the Taonan Water Affairs Authority came knocking, ordering the dismantling of the bridge and accusing Huang and his family of illegally profiting from it.

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A small Chinese company specializing in selling washing machines is facing a potential loss of 30 million yuan ($4.2 million) after an employee mistakenly labeled products with the wrong prices.

Little Swan Dongshan Franchise Shop, a small business based in Anhui, China, has been forced to ask customers to cancel their orders after one employee’s blunder caused a 20-minute online shopping spree that could result in a net loss of $4.2 million. Chinese news outlet Red Star News reported that on August 28, over 40,000 orders for various washing machines were placed on the small company’s Tmall online store until someone noticed the pricing errors and took the store offline. In that 20 window, Little Swan sold 70 million yuan worth of washing machines for only 40 million yuan, which means it might have to incur losses of $30 million yuan if forced to honor the orders.

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A Chinese company is being accused of tricking hundreds of employees into conducting illegal activities so it could then fire them without severance pay.

Wuhan CITIC Design Institute, a company based in Wuhan, Central China’s Hubei Province, recently found itself at the center of a huge scandal, after several prominent news outlets reported that it had allegedly fired around 200 senior employees after accusing them of crimes one of its managers had lured them into committing. Apparently, the company had been looking for ways of getting rid of senior employees with high salaries without having to offer any financial compensation packages, so it had one of the senior managers lure such employees to various bars and clubs under the pretext of “after-work relaxation” where they were tricked into engaging in illegal activities.

Photo: Mohammed Hassan/Pixabay

According to some of the tricked employees, the manager set them up with sex workers and encouraged them to interact with them, while others claim that they engaged in gambling and even intentionally lost some money to their superior to maintain a good relationship with him, only to later realize that they had been lured into a trap.

After gathering dirty evidence on the employees, the manager would report everything to the company, and their contracts would be terminated without any compensation. Some Chinese sources claim that as many as 200 employees lost their jobs this way.

The company’s tactic was fiercely criticized online, with some social media users pointing out that the terminated employees would have a very difficult time trying to find other jobs because of their record of illegal activities. So not only did the employer fire its senior employees without severance pay, but it also compromised their chances of getting a job someplace else.

Although this level of trickery is rare among Chinese employers, finding ways to fire employees without financial compensation is definitely not! Companies are known to dig through their staff’s criminal records hoping to find any illegalities committed in the last five or ten years to use as an excuse to fire them. Some go as far as faking tempting job offers from other companies to trick ‘problematic’ employees into quitting.

Chinese authorities are investigating the case of an elderly man who died 13 days after having 23 teeth extracted and 12 implants inserted on the same day at a dental clinic.

Ms. Shu, a resident of Yongkang City, in China’s Zhejiang Province, recently filed a complaint with the Municipal Health Bureau against a local dental clinic after her father’s death. The woman presented evidence that her parent had had 23 teeth extracted and 12 new teeth implanted in a single session, which she claims caused his untimely demise 13 days later. Ms. Shu told authorities that her father suffered agonizing pain throughout the last 13 days of his life, before suffering a fatal heart attack on August 28. Now the woman wants those responsible to be brought to justice.

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A Chinese man who felt something crawling up his nose one night experienced particularly bad breath for three days before discovering he had a cockroach stuck in his trachea.

A 58-year-old man in Haikou, China’s Hainan Province, recently experienced an entomophobe’s worst nightmare. One night, as he was sleeping, he woke up with a strange sensation that something was crawling up his nose. Then he felt something go down his throat, so he started coughing, but nothing came out so he just went back to sleep. The following day, he put the whole incident to the back of his mind and just went about his business until he realized he had particularly bad breath. Even after three days, his breath still smelled disgusting, and he also started coughing up yellow sputum, so he decided to seek medical help.

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A short clip featuring two very hot “humanoid robots” being showcased at this year’s Beijing World Robot Conference has sparked a heated online debate about whether they are actual robots.

This year’s Beijing World Robot Conference features hundreds of international exhibitors and over a thousand special guests, but the event recently went viral for something that has less to do with technology and more with makeup and cosplay. Ex-Robot, a Chinese company that specializes in bionic humanoid robots, unveiled its latest creations in front of hundreds of journalists and visitors, and while they were definitely impressive-looking, two of them really stood out because of their doll-like appearance. Many X users were impressed by how attractive the two robots looked, while others wondered if they were actual robots or just real women cosplaying as androids.

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The Shiziguan Floating Bridge, also known as the Bridge of Dreams, is an innovative 400-meter bridge that allows cars up to 2.8 tonnes to drive across the surface of the Qingjiang River in China.

Nestled between the forest-covered mountains of Enshi Prefecture, in Hubei Province, the Shiziguan scenic spot is one of China’s most breathtaking natural attractions. However, what really separates it from other impressive sights is the experience of taking in the beautiful scenery while driving along a bridge made of floats and placed directly on the water. Built using German technology to prevent rollovers, the Shiziguan Floating Bridge has been operational since 2016 for both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The bridge is made from high-density polyethylene floats filled with water for extra stability, so if the drivers respect the imposed speed limit of 20 km/h, they should only feel the gentle sway of the river beneath.

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A Chinese woman suffered vision problems and subsequent depression following a botched double eyelid surgery in which her eyeball was accidentally sewn to the corner of her eye.

In 2021, Ms. Zhang, a woman from Weifang, in China’s Shandong Province, underwent a double eyelid surgery at the Weifang Kuiwen Lirendu Medical Beauty Clinic to correct an unevenness of the corners of her eyes. The woman claims that she felt discomfort during the actual surgery but pushed through it only to discover that her left eyeball and the corner of that eye had been stitched together. At first, the doctor who operated on her told her that everything was fine, but then Zhang started experiencing blurry vision and limited eye movement, and despite attempts to correct the damage, she is still struggling with physical and mental issues more than two years after the procedure.

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Swinging Bridge, a simple yet hard-to-master game that has been around for about a decade, has been growing in popularity all over China.

Ever try to keep your balance on a wobbly rope bridge as someone else was purposely shaking it to make you fall off? Welcome to Swinging Bridge, the competitive balance game that really puts players’ body coordination and balance to the test. It is usually played by a dozen or so players split into two teams on opposite sides of a wobbly bridge above a shallow pool filled with water or soft mattresses to cushion the fall of those who can’t keep up with the rhythm. Each team tries to swing the bridge from one side to the other to put the other team off balance until one side remains standing. It’s a simple premise, but staying on your feet as the bridge moves at dizzying speeds requires perfect balance and coordination.

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This year, the Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT) printed its admission letters on an innovative carbon fiber composite material that is just 0.2 millimeters thick but as sharp and strong as a knife.

While most university admission letters are usually put away in a cupboard after students learn they have been accepted, freshmen accepted by the Beijing University of Chemical Technology have been busy using their admission letters as a multi-tool. Many of them have been sharing videos of themselves using the sturdy admission letters to cut all kinds of fruits, even melons, mincing pieces of meat, and holding them over open flames to prove they don’t burn or melt. After several of these videos went viral, a spokesperson from the Chinese university went public to clarify that this year’s admission letters were made out of an innovative material developed at the learning institution.

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A Chinese company recently published a series of texts between its customer service and a woman who claimed her daughter had become pregnant after wearing underwear bought from the company.

The unnamed company made the allegations made by an alleged customer public as a warning that such stunts could put entrepreneurs out of business. Apparently, a woman claiming to have purchased underwear from the company on Taobao, one of China’s largest online retail platforms, contacted customer support to complain that her daughter had become pregnant after wearing a pair of brand-new underwear. Despite staff’s attempts to convince the disgruntled woman that such a thing wasn’t possible, she insisted that it was the only way her daughter could have gotten pregnant and demanded an explanation.

All attempts to convince the woman that her theory was physiologically impossible failed, so in the end customer service told her that its factory staff consisted exclusively of women and their boss had gotten a vasectomy, so the girl’s pregnancy had nothing to do with the company.

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