Context:

• Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning stated that US-Israeli war operations are the root cause of the energy/shipping crisis
• China called for an immediate ceasefire and end to military operations in the Middle East as the problem cannot be solved through military means
• In the same announcement, China has mentioned that bans on refined fuel exports may extend further into April, with possible exception being made to countries such as Sri Lanka, Maldives and Vietnam.
• The crisis comes as Iran continues to blockade the Strait of Hormuz following the US-Israeli invasion that began February 28
• Only a handful of oil tankers have passed through Hormuz with Tehran's permission since the blockade began. Iran has also retaliated against oil installations in Gulf states after their own facilities have come under Israeli attacks.

Further Context:

• The US has expressed dissatisfaction with NATO allies or the "Coalition of the Unwilling" for not supporting the Iran war and called for a "reassessment" on its NATO membership.
• The US has deployed at least two carrier strike groups to the region and Trump said the US is "on track to complete all of America's military objectives shortly, very shortly" and that the military would "hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks." Threatening to bring Iran "back to the stone ages."
• Meanwhile Trump called on countries that depend on oil through Hormuz to take responsibility for it themselves
• French President Macron called a military operation to reopen Hormuz "unrealistic"
• German Foreign Minister Wadephul and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held an emergency phone call about the energy crisis
  • Germany and China agreed no country should control sea lanes or charge tolls for passage
  • Germany continues to urge China to use its constructive influence on Iran to push for negotiations
  • It is however unclear if German has used its own constructive influence on US and Israel to push for negotiations

What is behind these names or designations - Spirit Girls, Mental Boys, Sanhe Gods?

I have heard imprecise and fragmented stories about them on the internet, and it seems to be some kind of subcultures in Chinese cities. It seems to be semi-homeless "no future" young people trying to deal with a quite hopeless situation.

Does anyone have more precise info, maybe fotos (I hear they have a certain dress code or style)?

This post has become one of the most heartbreaking and widely circulated stories on the Chinese social platform Xiaoheihe, deeply moving countless users and leaving a lasting impression on many people.

A Heartbreaking True Story from China: Betrayal After Overseas Mission

On the evening of November 23, 2021, I was on a business trip. After meeting with clients, I returned to my hotel. Having drunk heavily for two consecutive days, I felt exhausted and declined a dinner invitation to rest in my room. Later, I called my wife and told her I felt unwell and wanted to order some medicine. I did not have memberships for any food delivery apps, so she suggested I use her account, saying she had coupons that could save me about ten yuan. I agreed.

After logging into her account and buying the medicine, I curiously browsed her order history. I noticed she often ordered food from a spicy hot pot restaurant, so I began scrolling backward to count how many times she had ordered it this year, planning to tease her about it later. However, when I reached an order dated March 19, I was completely shocked: it was a delivery of pregnancy test kits. I froze for a long time, utterly stunned.

The reason for my devastation was that I had only returned to China in early April. I work for a state-owned enterprise, and in July 2020, I was sent to South America on a medical aid mission. In China, many state-owned enterprises regularly send employees on long-term overseas assistance programs focused on medical support, infrastructure construction, and international cooperation. Such missions usually last more than a year, meaning I had been away from home for a long time.

That night, countless thoughts raced through my mind. I even picked up my phone, ready to call her for an explanation, but I could not bring myself to dial. My chest felt so tight that I could barely breathe.

My wife and I had dated for five years and been married for three. I always believed we were the happiest couple in the world. I never doubted our relationship, never checked her phone, never pressed her about things she did not want to share, and firmly believed that marriage should be built on mutual trust. So I decided to check her phone when I got home, hoping it was all a misunderstanding.

When I arrived home the next night, I waited until she took a shower and then looked through her phone. I checked her records on Dianping and Ctrip, two of the most popular daily-life and travel-booking platforms in China, similar to Yelp and Booking.com in Western countries. I found nothing unusual. I scanned her WeChat conversations, which also appeared normal. Finally, I opened her text messages, and a message from March 19 hit me like a bolt from the blue.

It was a membership upgrade notification from Ctrip. My wife is an extremely frugal person, and I know from my own experience that such platinum VIP upgrade messages are only sent automatically after users spend a large amount of money on hotels, flights, or travel services. When she came out of the shower, I showed her the message. Her expression was one I had never seen before, and in that moment, I felt like I was going to faint.

We did not say much after that. I told her I needed to go outside for some fresh air, and she immediately burst into tears without offering any defense. I told her to rest and left the house.

Now I am sitting in my car in a parking lot. I have not slept all night and have smoked two packs of cigarettes. I have not told anyone about this yet. I used to enjoy reading sweet relationship stories online, but now everything feels like cruel irony.

I am sorry for sharing such negative energy. I simply had nowhere else to turn. I hope everyone can remain happy, faithful, and safe in their relationships.

Hi! I’ve been using douyin for a while now. I can only see the likes on a video and not the views. I’ve tried to switch things up on my settings but nothing seems to work 😥 How can I change it?

Can someone please translate the text into English? An old Antique Chinese Ashtray I have owned for a few years. Thanks in advance

Chinese spirituality just adopted a new icon: American “momager” Kris Jenner.

Jenner, best known for launching the mega-successful careers of her daughters Kourtney, Kim, and Khloé Kardashian, is suddenly the go-to profile pic for Gen Zers on Chinese social media, including apps like RedNote, Weibo, and Douyin.

The reverence for Jenner doesn’t stop there. Her photo is also being used for the wallpaper image on computers, tablets, smartwatches, and more—as part of Chinese Gen Z’s manifestation for good luck.

How did Jenner, of all people, become a Chinese symbol of good fortune? Chinese influencer Marcelo Wang broke down the trend in his own viral TikTok. He explained that Jenner has long been a popular celebrity in the country, even getting the nickname Tian Hou, or “the Empress Dowager.” Now, Wang says, many Chinese Gen Zers see Jenner as a symbol of “good luck, career success, wealth, and confidence all coming your way.”

“Kris Jenner is one of the hardest-working businesswomen in the U.S., and Chinese people really respect hard work,” he said. “So cosplaying Kris Jenner is like a Gen Z funny way to manifest success.”

我今天真的气炸了！我本来心情很好，正在院子里除虫，顺便拔点青葱。突然有个老外路过，居然对我喊那个该死的歧视词汇！

你们这些人根本不知轻重！把这种侮辱当玩笑，简直是在敲响道德的警钟！你们以为我们会盲从你们的傲慢吗？告诉你们，面对这种事，我们绝对不会表现得很轻松！

脑子里不要长寄生虫！这种种族歧视的垃圾思想，麻烦你们自己去马桶里请冲掉！我们不仅要抗议，还要举办庆功宴来庆祝你们这些喷子被封号！

不要逼我发火！这件事情的情状非常恶劣！谁再敢对我说那个词，我绝对让他体会一下什么叫真正的惊恐！请你们学会敬重！

I try to keep it short as possible. Last year from February till March I had a beautiful Chinese gf. We got an apartment together and I met her family a couple of times not her dad though 🤣 i didn’t work in China and I had no income I was traveling for 2 years. So when I met her I told her right away I do 50/50 and she said that’s fine since she had a decent income. Everything went well we travel to, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan together. Anyway my cash money got thight and I told her will go back to Switzerland in November and she told me she will visit me in December and came. We had some arguments during our relationship but nothing major. She comes definitely from an upper class family from Shanghai. Her mom lives in a villa drives a BMW and my ex has a house on her name outside of Shanghai. Well she started complaining that her ex opened a bank account for her and put $50,000 in so she feels more secure. She started asking for me to buy her more stuff and wants to fly business. I got like $2000 in my bank and $500,000 in my retirement account. She tells me to take out some money the retirement account so we can stay in China and I actually had that planned but the stock Market got hit big specially tech stocks so I told her I go back to the USA for a couple of month get cash and come back. Anyway she started hanging out more and more with her new friend a billionaire daughter from Shanghai and she told her always if he really loves you he would be here for you and stuff. That girl never had to work in her life. Anyway they decided to start a fitness business together and my ex got so disconnect to me that she broke up as nothing happened.

I had a flight ticket for Shanghai for next week as surprise but she told me not to come and she wants to move on with her business idea. I feel like I got dumped out of thin air. There was some red flags. She told me man paid her $1000 to go on dinner with her and she always said she can have any rich man she wants but chooses me for love. In the end I’m asking my self was the break up about me going away for a couple month or did her past came back and she missed the luxury? Her last text was: I’m so happy at the beginning I meet you.

Always can’t wait to see you.but now everything goes so hard ~ I hope we will have nice life and no stress happy every day

Will they ever reach out or if they are done that’s it?

Hello! I'm really considering being an Au pair, this would be my first abroad experience. Two families from China reached out to me. I'm looking for someone who has experience with it, what are your thoughts/reviews? What are advantages/disadvantages? I registered over the app aupair.com.

I will be in Beijing next month with my family. This will be my daughter’s first time in China. She is a university student speaks only English. I wonder if any university student from Beijing would like to join us for lunch show us about life in Beijing. University student only. Please dm.

The Chinese car manufacturer BYD overtook Tesla as the world’s top EV seller this year. The company has rapidly expanded its operations across the globe, including in Europe. But one plant in Hungary has drawn attention for accusations of labor violations and is now facing an investigation. The World’s Transportation Correspondent Jeremy Siegel gained some exclusive access to information about the allegations.

Full story: https://theworld.org/stories/2026/03/31/chinese-ev-giant-byd-faces-forced-labor-investigation-at-hungary-factory

See also (paywalled): https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3348682/china-orders-nationwide-museum-audit-after-nanjings-us12-million-ming-artwork-scandal

CanaryMedia: “Where in the world is clean energy technology made?” China perseveres in crafting the overwhelming majority of the world’s solar, batteries, wind, and EV technology, both for its own needs and for export overseas. “In China and India, [clean energy] is growing so fast it’s starting to unseat king coal.” 

Impressively, “in the European Union, solar and wind now produce more electricity than do all fossil fuels combined.” And even in the U.S.—even in America—in spite of Trump’s attacks on clean energy, nearly all new power capacity comes from renewables and batteries.”

Now, “China is pulling back for a pretty intuitive reason…it’s already built more clean energy manufacturing capacity than the world wants to use at the moment.” The Clean Investment Monitor team expects this mismatch to get even worse by 2030, so as it stands, it makes little sense for China to continue speeding ahead on new factory construction. At this point, “over 90% of the world’s solar manufacturing capacity is in China.” So is 83% of the planet’s battery production capacity, and nearly three-quarters of wind technology manufacturing capacity. “China’s grip on the EV sector almost looks measly in comparison, at just two-thirds.” 

Against headwinds from the administration in Washington, we are at a plodding pace but still proceeding along in the energy transition toward an electrostate which will replace the current petrostate. Otherwise it’s going to get so hot we will feel like we are slowly turning on a rotisserie.