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

This week, fugitive felines are seized, a koi is consecrated, a big spender is brought down, and Didi Hitch runs into controversy just minutes after relaunch:

Buy the numbers

As every year, China’s Singles Day sales set new records by reaching 10 billion RMB in one minute and 36 seconds, and 100 billion RMB in one hour, three minutes, and 59 seconds.

Gaming guidelines

The Chinese government has released new rules to control the youth’s video gaming habits by enforcing a curfew, daily time limits, and monthly spending budgets.

Didi’s redux

Ride-hailing company Didi was accused of sexism when the trial relaunch of its Hitch service—after its 435-day suspension due to two murders—restricted female riders after 8 p.m., but accepted males until 11 p.m. Following an outcry, Didi closed down the service for both male and female users between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m.

Big spender 

Wang Sicong, China’s richest son, has been barred from “high-end consumption” due to a contract dispute involving his live-streaming business: including restrictions on buying first-class high-speed train tickets  and air tickets above economy class, staying in star-rated hotels, visiting nightclubs and golf courses, and a few more of Wang’s favorite things.

Price of fame

“Coat Brother” Zhu Zhiwen, a rural singer who shot to fame on CCTV’s Star Avenue talent show in 2011, revealed to a news program that he is followed every day by hundreds of “fans” who live stream his meals, harass his family members, and even climb over the gate to his home.

Meanwhile, Andy Lau superfan Yang Lijuan has admitted remorse for her father’s 2007 suicide, for which many had blamed the Hong Kong singer. Allegedly, after spending all his savings, selling his house, and even trying to sell a kidney to support his daughter’s obsession, Yang’s father drowned himself after Yang got invited to Lau’s birthday party but was unable to talk to her idol.

Fugitive felines

Haikou custom officers have intercepted an illegal shipment of 300 cats intended for slaughter from Guangdong to Hainan province; the 270 cats who survived transit have been turned over to the Hainan Small Animal Protection Association for care and public adoption.

Dorm prodigy

Hangzhou Dianzi University’s recent hire of Tang Xingfang as its new writing instructor was as inspiring as it was controversial: Tang is dorm matron with a primary school education, but has published six bestselling novels online.

Consecrated carp

A golden koi with strikingly human-like features has become a viral attraction at a Yunnan scenic area, with netizens joking that it must have “become a god.”

Heart-stopping homework

A Hubei mother suffered a near-fatal cardiac arrest while trying to help her son with math homework, later admitting that she shouldn’t have gotten so frustrated with the boy.

Multilingual lecture

An American dad has become an internet sensation for his ability “scold” his daughter in Mandarin, despite not being a fluent speaker in the language.

Cover image from Pexels