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A symbolic 10,000-yuan crowdfunding target for the sequel to a beloved Chinese indie game blew past 20 million yuan this week. The producer's response — livestreamed appeals, a kowtow to the camera, a plea not to be 'made into a god' — has become the story.
Golden Week crowds met the same goods at every scenic area in China — the hand cream, the fridge magnet, the photogenic ice cream that melts before it is eaten. A survey published with Southern Weekly's trend piece found cost, not variety, is what finally broke the habit: 59 percent of respondents call the souvenirs overpriced.
Qilian county in Qinghai — population about 50,000 — received over 100,000 visitors in a single Golden Week day. With every hotel full and night temperatures at minus four, the local culture and tourism bureau housed nearly 500 people in school dormitories for free, and its staff answered more than 400 calls in seven hours.
The week's biggest stories from Chinese social media.
Retired Olympic diver Zhang Jiaqi ended her reality-show year with a long post about her mother: the missed years are real, the distance is real, and time does not run backwards. The post drew tens of thousands of likes within hours and pushed China's running argument about the 'family of origin' back to the top of the feed.
Li Leyou, the rural girl whose twelve-year sponsorship by a stranger's family became China's best-loved reality-TV sequel, has moved out of her benefactor's home. A falling-out aired on livestream — allowances cut, a noodle shop refused — has the country arguing about gratitude, adulthood and who owns a life story.
The Douyin account of Huihui Baobao — an influencer whose staged 'gifts to street cleaners' videos collapsed under scrutiny this week — has been cleared and blocked, the platform's most visible punishment yet for charity performed as content.
4 Oct 2026
4 Oct 2026
4 Oct 2026
4 Oct 2026
3 Oct 2026