Viral Week is our weekly round-up of the weekend’s trending memes, humor, rumor, gossip, and everything else Chinese netizens are chatting about. It’s the perfect start to the week.

We’ve made some changes to make Viral Week a broader, more bite-sized summary of all the stories making waves over the last few days…

WeChat to the future

The app with over a billion users revealed how well it knows them (scarily well) and unveiled its plans to keep them in the face of increasing competition

Alipay rebrands

The e-payment app’s decision to change its name from ‘Alipay’ (Zhifubao 支付宝) to Hanbao (瀚宝) was enough to get people talking

Like a Pig

Luxury brands continued the recent New Year tradition of using auspicious animals to sell fancy goods with their latest range of Year of the Pig-themed products. You be the judge.

Driving school

Kindergarten teachers in Qiantang, Zhejiang province, are alarmed that pupils are arriving every day on their own tricycles. The parents? They’re fine with it.

Huawei arrest

Following his arrest in Poland over espionage allegations, a Chinese employee fired by Huawei has created further PR headaches for the troubled telecoms company

Busy body

A Xuzhou vice-mayor has been called the busiest government official in China: Besides his day job, he leads 46 task forces…

Age acrobatics

…while another official’s CV suggested he started working as a stage performer when he was only 13

Future of bridges?

China’s first ever 3D-printed footbridge opened in Shanghai and it looks…weird