How a cake got a Chinese celebrity censored
The China Letter: June 10, 2022
The weird disappearance of a livestreaming lipstick salesman, how the feeling of freedom in Shanghai was fleeting, more details about aggressive Chinese aircraft antics, new adventures in outer space and an Olympic champion switching teams—all of these are part of our latest roundup of unusual news.
Lipstick King is missing
An ice cream and cookie cake shaped like a tank was apparently enough for Chinese livestreamer Li Jiaqi to have his show abruptly end on the eve of the 33rd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. A vigil attempt also resulted in arrests in Hong Kong during the current era where national-security snitches are actively rewarded by Beijing.
“Persistence is victory”
Shanghai’s sense of freedom was short-lived as new lockdowns arrived just a week after celebrations for the lifting of restrictions. Millions will be back in quarantine as mass testing is conducted in Shanghai, while Beijing closed entertainment venues. Meanwhile, officials in the city of Dandong believe COVID-19 is blowing in from North Korea.
More flying aggressions
Chinese J-16 fighter jets dumped debris into Australian P-8 plane from Australia, revealed defence minister Richard Marles about a May 26 incident over the South China Sea. Canadian planes participating in a United Nations mission were also “buzzed” by pilots in interactions that Beijing claimed were legitimate self-defence rather than provocation.
Flying beyond the sun
Space-based solar power is a new frontier that China is planning to tackle beginning in 2028, getting a jump on the U.S. space agency that proposed this idea over two decades ago. The China Academy of Space Technology is actually speeding up its ambitions, which include building ground infrastructure to receive transmissions from the power plant.
A surprising team switch
The teenage star of the Beijing Winter Olympics is now backing the bid to bring the 2030 or 2034 games to Salt Lake City. Eileen Gu was born in the U.S. but skied for the Chinese team, and earned a significant fan base. The accusations of divided loyalties from Gu have now swung in the other direction, but China’s state media is supportive of her.