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

Pet dog brutally culled without quarantined owner’s knowledge

Virus prevention staff entered the residence of a quarantined individual in Shangrao, Jiangxi province, and culled their pet dog by striking it with an iron bar, sparking controversy online after the owner released a surveillance video clip of the brutal attack on the animal. The member of staff responsible has been removed from their position, but at the time of writing, the city has not responded to further complaints about their virus-prevention methods, and the pet-owner states she has received threatening phone calls from unidentified individuals asking her to remove her video.

Angry drivers check Covid-19 health codes before starting to argue

A surveillance video showed two e-bike drivers in Chengdu colliding, getting off their bikes, and first ascertaining that each other’s mobile “health code” was green before taking off their masks and arguing about the accident. Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, had 26 cases of Covid-19 at the time of writing.

Radio host storms out of studio after argument about cabbage

During a supposedly lighthearted on-air discussion about whether “Qianlong Cabbage,” a classic Beijing dish, should be served hot or cold, two radio hosts from Radio Tianjin Communication Station got into such a heated argument that one of them stormed out of the recording studio, leaving the audience stunned. Host Wang Lin accused her co-host Bai Yang of arguing against whatever she says just for the sake of it. Both hosts were suspended from work, while the only winner was the dish, which became a trending topic online.

“Haunted house” livestream fails to convince scared buyers

A court in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, organized a 24-hour livestream of a “haunted house,” where the previous owner had committed suicide, in an attempt to convince potential buyers that the residence was safe and contained no ghosts. The unusual livestream attracted tens of thousands of viewers, but the property still failed to attract any buyers at the auction.

Stressed students shed hair in university library

Viral videos showed housekeeping staff in the library of a Chongqing university sweeping up a dustpan full of fallen hair, highlighting the problem of hair-loss among stressed out students.

High schoolers parade as “Yi warriors”

Students at a high school in Hani Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan province, painted their faces and donned traditional Yi ethnic dress for the opening ceremony of their sports day. Led by a professional performer, the students also performed a “battle dance” and fire worship ritual. Videos of the performance of Yi ethnic culture went viral.

Covid-19 outbreak in Dalian

Dalian, a coastal city of 7.5 million people in Liaoning province, has told residents to stay indoors and avoid crowds after reporting over 200 confirmed cases of Covid-19 over the past week. The outbreak is thought to be connected to cold-chain storage—70 percent of the China’s cold-chain goods enter the country through Dalian’s port. Many of the city’s universities and public venues have been closed.

Heavy snow continues to batter northern China

Extreme blizzards continued to lash China’s northeast, with Shenyang in Liaoning province experiencing an average of 53 cm of snow, the heaviest snowfall since 1905. The National Meteorological Center issued 27 red alerts—the highest warning level—for snowstorms across Inner Mongolia and north-eastern China.