As China 2 West is operating in China we hear the craziest stories on a regular bases and we want to share the most amusing recent news from China, which have brightened up our day. In this Blog we list a few articles from China that caught our eye during the last months and that really made us chuckle from time to time.
1. ‘Freshmeat”- The Dating App exclusively for hot people
Dating Apps are a huge trend all around the globe. The Chinese photographer “Soft” saw that potential and now launched a new dating app called Xianrou in China, that is apparently supposed to answer the prayer of million Chinese singles: to have a platform for sexy people only. To be granted access to this holy grail you need to apply at the company itself. It then guarantees you to only get in contact with people that are able to keep up with your sex appeal. What a relief, isn’t it?
2. Gifts for Chinese New Year
In February China was celebrating the most important holiday of the year: Chinese New Year. For companies that’s the time of the year to draw balance of the last year’s performance and give rewards to their employees. Here is the best of the gifts that could make you jealous:
– WeChat handed iPhone 6s handsets to all employees
– Vipshop gave away six luxury cars and 20 Maldives trips
– JD.com endowed 150 employees with cash adding up to 300,000 $ in total
3. Luxury Public Bathrooms
When you picture a public bathroom in your head you probably think about dirty walls, the, as a matter of principle, non existing toilet paper or the bestial smell of the 963 people ahead of you. Now the public bathrooms currently being built in Chongqing will challenge your preconception. The public bathroom is supposed to generate it’s energy from solar power and it offers free 50 Mbps WiFi (just as a comparison, average WiFi speed is 3,3) , phone charging stations and of course a lobby with fridge, microwave and water dispenser. So next time you’re complaining about your WiFi being slow- you know where to go.
4. Kind-of-Poker
Alibaba has a new mission: to bring poker to China. First thing to be said is that gambling in mainland China is illegal. So how do you solve that? First of all, you change the name to ‘Match Poker’ to distinguish it from the well known gambling game. Second, you change a few rules including playing in teams only, having a tablet instead of cards and making winning a matter of skill instead of chance. Lastly and most important, you don’t call it a gambling game! You label it as sports. Great example for outsmarting Chinese policy.
5. Phone seller introduces new smart … what?
Xiaomi is a brand that should be familiar to everybody by now. It’s been climbed up to position 5 of the world’s top selling smart phone brands in 2015. Besides phones Xiaomi sells power banks, fitness tracker headphones and other related devices. A few days ago the eagerly awaited news came that Xiaomi is launching a new product and it will be: a smart rice cooker. If that didn’t make you fall over backwards already then this: it controls the water needed and offers 2450 different heating methods. Isn’t that smart?
6. Fresh air online
The whole world knows that China has a massive problem with pollution in its big cities. But masks and air filters are yesterday, now the true innovation is here. Some smart entrepreneurs saw the opportunity of a niche arising from the pollution problem and invented a life changing product: fresh air in bottles. For just 20 $ for 8 liters of Canadian Rock Mountains Air, you’re in. To break that down, for each breath your body uses approximately 0.5 liters of air, which gives you amazing 16 breaths per bottle. Basically that means that if you’re planning on breathing the air more than an hour it would be more economically rational to flight to the Canadian Rock Mountains yourself.
7. Skinny, Skinnier, China
It’s well known that China’s beauty ideal states: the skinnier, the better. So here’s the most current beauty trend aiming for this ideal: the Din A4 waist. The aim is to be able to cover the waist fully with a upright Din A4 paper. Yan Yan, who was posting a picture of her A4 waist, explains this insanity with this: “we always say, if a women can’t control her figure she can do nothing well” If this would be the case 99% of the world’s women would be in serious trouble.
As you can see, everything’s possible and that makes China really unique. We love it here and we hope that you’re just as interested in this crazy country and its great opportunities.