Every year, at the end of October, tens of thousands of people flock to a Buddhist temple in China to see a majestic gingko biloba tree shed its foliage and turn the temple compound from green to gold.

The Gu Guanyin Buddhist temple in the Zhongnan Mountains of China’s Shaanxi Province is home to a 1,400-year-old gingko biloba tree that some say was planted for the Tang dynasty (618–907) emperor Li Shimin, one of the greatest rulers in Chinese history. It towers majestically over the temple, and for a few days every autumn, it rains down a gold carpet of leaves that stands out against the muted tones of the season. Because of its striking appearance, it has been called the world’s most beautiful gingko biloba tree, and has become a tourist attraction in it own right.

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A Chinese man has become popular in his home country for adopting the role of “bad uncle” and scaring strangers’ children into finishing their meals and going to bed early.

I remember my mom telling me that the Boogey Man would get me if I didn’t listen to her, but in China, the “bad uncle” is a more popular figure, and I dare say a more efficient one now that kids can finally associate a face to the name. That’s right, parents trying to get their kids to be more obedient can try the services of a bad uncle for hire, who will record a video of himself frowning and making faces at the camera to scare kids into listening to their parents, for a fee.

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Beijing-based technology company Kuaishou recently sparked outrage on Chinese social media after videos of digital timers over employee toilet stalls went viral online.

The photos showed digital timers hanging over each cubicle and small sensors installed on the cubicle doors to trigger the timers. Chinese social media users slammed the company for monitoring and timing its office workers’ time in the toilet to increase productivity and its profits, with some calling the practice a breach of human rights and privacy. Some on the other hand defended the company, saying that some employees abused bathroom breaks, using it as an opportunity to waste time on their phones.

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Chinese Engineers have successfully moved an 85-year-old historical school building in Shanghai to a new location with the help of 198 robotic legs.

Moving older buildings to make room for new construction projects is nothing new in China, but what makes this particular case interesting is the method used to move the 7,600-tonne building. Usually, side rails or flatbeads are used to relocate structures, but the irregular shape of the Lagena Primary Schoool posed quite a challenge to engineers. After weighing their options, experts opted for an innovative “walking” system made up of 198 hydraulic legs that lifted the giant building and helped it “walk” a total of 62 meters over 18 days.

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A loyal pooch reportedly managed to walk 60 km back to his home after being forgotten by his owners in a highway service area 26 days prior.

According to local media, the 7-year-old dog, named Dou Dou, was forgotten in a by a Chinese family in a motorway service area when they stopped for a break on a long trip. Apparently, no one noticed that Dou Dou was missing until they arrived at their destination, several hours later. They reportedly went back to look for the pet the very next day, but found no trace of him. Luckily, the fluffy canine was able to return home by himself, after nearly a month. He was filthy and emaciated after the 60km walk, but otherwise ok.

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A viral news report about a woman who claims to have found plastic pellets mixed with rice grains has once again reignited allegations about Chinese fake rice.

Rumours about ruthless Chinese rice growers and retailers mixing plastic rice grains with real ones to increase profit at the cost of consumers’ health have been doing the rounds online for at least a decade, but no such claims have ever been confirmed. We previously wrote about allegations surrounding “cheap but profitable” fake Chinese rice being exported to other Asian countries, including Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, and India, but even then authorities could neither confirm nor deny these rumors. Now, another such case has once again brought the so-called “fake rice myth” back into the spotlight.

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Footage of a young cleaning woman who appears to be drinking water straight out of a toilet has sparked a heated debate on Chinese social media this week.

The caretaker of a fertilizer company located in Shandong province, China has put herself at the center of controversy after a video showing her drinking water out of a toilet she had previously cleaned went viral online. The young woman, surnamed Luo, reportedly resorted to the extreme gesture in order to impress her bosses, who can be seen applauding her as she downs a plastic cup of toilet water. Accused of encouraging the employee to humiliate herself, representatives of the company insisted that the caretaker’s gesture was voluntary, adding that she has done drunk toilet water several times over the last couple of years.

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A Chinese video production startup has been getting a lot of attention on social media because of its adorable office pet – a two year-old llama-alpaca mix.

We’ve written about companies bringing pets into the office to help their human staff unwind, but that usually meant cats and small dogs. Now, a Wuxi-based company has ‘hired’ Tuo Baiwan, a young llama-alpaca mix to strut around the office and just be his adorable self. The furry animal loves attention and treats, and his human colleagues are more than willing to give him both. In return his simple presence help relieve stress and puts a smile on employees’ faces.

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A Chinese steel production company recently made international news headlines for offering 4,116 of its employees brand new cars as bonus for surpassing profit targets for the fifth consecutive year.

On October 1st, Jiangxi West Dajiu Iron & Steel Corporation organized an epic event to celebrate its success and reward employees for contributing to its yearly growth. It was reported that the company had reported increasing profits for the last five years, and management wanted to do something special to thank the staff, so they decided to give each one of them a car. A total of 4,116 new vehicles – 2,933 Jiangling Ford Territory and 1,183 FAW-Volkswagen Magotan – were distributed in batches in the weeks prior to the National Day holiday.

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A 45-year-old Chinese man reportedly suffered a heart attack after getting extremely upset while helping his son with his math homework.

The man, surnamed Liu, had been helping his Year 3 son with homework since school started last month, but over the past two weeks he had started experiencing a mild pain in his chest whenever he got frustrated with the boy. Things got really bad on Sunday, when Liu became really upset after repeating the same math question to his son three times, who was struggling to find the answer. At one point he started experiencing sharp chest pain and shortness of breath, and eventually passed out. Liu later woke up and thought medical attention at the Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital, where he learned that he had suffered a heart attack.

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A 29-year-old woman in China has suffered paralysis in the left side of her face after having wrinkle fillers injected at a cosmetic clinic. Doctors fear that the symptoms may be permanent.

On September 12, Ms. Zhao, from Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province. went to the local cosmetic hospital for a procedure she had undergone several times in the past – filler injections to remove some visible wrinkles on her face. Only this time things didn’t go as smoothly as usual. On September 19, a week after getting the filler injections, the 29-year-old woman woke up with half-face paralysis. Her mouth was crooked, she had a permanent frown in her left brow, and she couldn’t completely close her mouth and her left eye. She is still unable to chew food correctly or drink liquids, and has to use a straw.

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A Chinese woman who underwent a CT scan following a minor car accident learned that she had two metallic needles embedded deep in her brain.

The 29-year-old woman from Zhengzhou had been involved in a car accident and was advised to get a CT scan to make sure that there was no damage to her head. Luckily, the investigation showed no trauma related to the accident, but it did reveal something much stranger: two needles, approximately 5cm in length and 4.9mm in diameter embedded deep in her brain. The strange thing was that the needles were not related to the car accident, as there was no visible skull or scalp injury, and the woman had no recollection of any serious head trauma at any point in her life.

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Chinese media recently reported the fascinating story of a young boy who, after witnessing his father’s murder at the hands of a neighbor, when he was 9-years-old, spent the next 17 years trying to catch the culprit.

Looking back on that fateful day of August 9th, 2000, Xiang Mingqian wishes he had never thrown that stone that eventually got his father killed… He was only 9 at the time, playing with his neighbor, Zhang Jun in a ditch, by the side of an old road in Changba Town, Zhenxiong County. Jun had thrown a stone into a puddle, and the splash had hit Xiang Mingqian, so he decided to return the favor by throwing an even bigger stone into the water. It was just a childish game, but the quarrel that erupted between the two boys would eventually involve both boys’ families and result in a tragic death…

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The Qiyi City Forest Garden residential complex in Chengdu, China, was supposed to be a green paradise for its residents, but two years on, the vertical forest concept has turned into a nightmare.

Back in 2018, the idea of living among dozens of exotic plants proved very exciting for the people of Chengdu, one of China’s most polluted cities, and by April of 2020 all 826 units in the Qiyi City Forest Garden complex had been sold. Each unit had up to 20 types of plants growing on the balcony, and filtering the city’s air and noise pollution. However, instead of an urban paradise, the eight-tower complex looks like a scene out of a post-apocalyptic film, with balconies overrun by sprawling greenery and plagues of mosquitoes.

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Chinese social media has been abuzz about the controversial story of a couple who took their own daughter to court in order to make her raise her toddler brother, because they couldn’t afford to.

According to several news reports in China, a couple who for several years had survived on their child’s monthly allowance alone decided to have a second child. They soon realized that they couldn’t actually afford to take care of the child, so they asked their 22-year-old daughter to raise the toddler on their behalf. The girl, referred to only as Le Le in the media, had managed to support herself through college and was dreaming about building a career for herself when she got the news of her new “job” from her parents. She flat out refused to bring up her brother by herself, so her parents sued her.

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