China Social Media Trends – Tuesday Sep 27, 2011

Sources include Chinese social media sites such as Sina Weibo ranking page (风云榜), Baidu Beats, and Weibo Top News (新浪新闻). Please keep us posted with what's buzzing on your radar and let us know your thoughts in the comment section.

Sina Weibo Top Trending Terms

Not many significant Weibo trending terms today as netizens continue their discussion about popular TV series, local celebrities, etc.

Top Trending News Topics

Shanghai Metro Line 10 collision – Shanghai metro line 10 malfunctioned around 2pm HKT on Tuesday, causing a rear-end collision. Sources from the metro department said equipment failures could have caused the crash. Per Xinmin Newspaper's Weibo posts, no death but several injuries were reported. Many stranded passengers posted updates and images online. More details here.

Shandong Yantai Foxconn fire – A fire broke out at a Foxconn plant in Yantai, Shandong Province around 10:20am HKT this morning. Netizens closeby reported sounds of explosions. The fire has been controlled and investigation is underway. Weibo user "worldof" posted first image of the fire below. More details here.

Train staff beaten passenger to death – A middle-aged man was beaten to death by train staff when he tried to mediate a quarrel between a passenger and three railway workers. The incident took place at the Ganzhou railway station in Jiangxi Province around midnight on Tuesday. Further investigation indicates that the victim was also a railway worker.

Netizens expressing anger toward train staff's unnecessary hostility. Even after media reported the fight was an "internal struggle" among railway workers, many still feel shocked by the sheer absurdity and brutality involved.

One Weibo user "HookCaptain" (Hook船长) commented, "high-speed rail crash people to death, train staff beat people to death, ticket booth suffocates people to death, railway station scares people to death." (动车撞死人，快车打死人，买票挤死人，站台吓死人).

Luoyang sex slavery case – Ongoing discussion since last Friday about an ex-firefighter who kept 6 women as sex slaves in a basement dungeon in Luoyang, Henan Province. The suspect, Li Hao, is subsequently fired and stripped of Party membership. More details here and photo slideshow via Tencent here.

Southern Metropolis Daily’s reporter, Mr. Ji Xuguang, exposed the story but was accused by related officials for “leaking a state secret” (侵犯”国家机密”) in publishing the case.

Given the mounting unresolved questions (how did Li organize sex trade? How did he commit murders? How come the women didn't ask for help?), many are speculating that Li Hao is in fact a scapegoat to cover up other top officials’ dirty deeds. No evidence to support such claim at the moment.

Selected Baidu Beats

Li Yang’s children as experiments (李阳孩子实验品) – Crazy English founder Li Yang stirred yet another controversy after his domestic abuse incident. Recently, he told an interviewer that his children and his marriage were “experiments” in cross-cultural education. When the reporter reminded him that his kids were human beings, Li replied: “Life is an experiment, don’t we also experiment on lab rats?” More details here.

Michael Jordan engaged (乔丹订婚) – Chinese netizens are discussing a rumor that basketball legend Michael Jordan is engaged to his longtime girlfriend Yvette Prieto. This is generating a lot of discussion because Jordan remains a popular figure in China.

Ruo Xiaoan’s diary (若小安日记) – This is almost the Chinese version of “The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl" but with a different twist. Ms. Ruo Xiaoan is a Hangzhou prostitute who garnered notoriety online when she began keeping a public diary of her experiences with clients. Netizens coin her as “China’s most educated prostitute.” According to local police, she was arrested last week. More details here.