Twitter Bits: Puffer Fish and Gibberish

To wrap up the weekend, here’s some random China stuff from Twitter.

Starting with… whoa look at that puffer fish! Chinese State newspaper Xinhua reports on blowfish issues in Hai’an county of Jiangsu province, where these delicious yet deadly suckers are bred and attract a growing tourist industry. We doff our caps to the killer use of alliteration in this tweet:

Diners divide over deadly but delicious puffer fish. Puffer fish breeding industry helps develop tourism in Hai'an County, China's Jiangsu pic.twitter.com/B8iUSAH71e

— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) September 24, 2017

Meanwhile, in the capital: Beijing is gearing up for the 19th Party Congress next month, and is being draped with all kind of signage in anticipation of this very important event, during which the country’s leadership is set for the next five years. Even Elements, a dance club in the city’s Gongti neighborhood famous for its late night EDM debauchery, is getting in on the action. TechNode writer Frank Hersey spotted this festive sign adorning Elements’ facade:

Event Elements night club is getting excited about the 19th Congress! pic.twitter.com/QS28gwuoJm

— Frank Hersey (@frankhersey) September 21, 2017

While the core audience for these kinds of messages is mostly Chinese, a lot of the posters going up around town do introduce a bit of English into the mix. Some more successfully than others. Rogue historian and Radii contributor Jeremiah Jenne spotted a less than dedicated attempt at international dialogue:

When your desire to add English to your propaganda poster is given to an employee who simply can't be bothered and hopes you won't notice: pic.twitter.com/BjxqrpUYVu

— Jeremiah Jenne (@JeremiahJenne) September 24, 2017

Hmm… what else. “Did you know that the ketchup you eat in China has a 70% chance of being made in Xinjiang?” Blogger Josh Summers, who recently visited Beijing for a couple of meetups, lays out the tomato-related facts:

Did you know that the ketchup you eat in China has a 70% chance of being made in Xinjiang? https://t.co/d3oKwavb3W

— Josh Summers (@farwestchina) September 22, 2017

That’ll do!

Got a tip on weird memes or hot takes ricocheting around the China Twittersphere? Holler at us.