China Uses World’s Largest Inflatable Balloon to Make Urban Construction Cleaner and Quieter

In order to keep dust and noise pollution to a minimum, Chinese authorities in the city of Jinan have installed the world’s largest inflatable dome over an area of 20,000 square meters.

Urban construction is a dirty business that affects large areas around the construction site, but a unique project in Jinan, China, is proof that large construction projects can be isolated to reduce noise and pollution, helping to protect nearby communities and the environment. All you need is a giant inflatable balloon! The first of its kind in China and reportedly the largest in the world, the inflatable dome of Jinan is 50 meters high and covers an area of 20,000 square meters. It uses negative pressure and advanced air filtration systems to prevent dust from escaping into nearby areas, but also to ensure that air remains breathable for the workers inside.

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The World’s Longest Traffic Jam Lasted 12 Days, Stretched for 100 Km

In 2010, thousands of cars came to a standstill along the China National Highway 110, creating the now-famous China National Highway 110 traffic jam, which lasted 12 days and stretched over 100 kilometers.

Identifying the longest traffic jam in history is tricky because it depends on the factors considered. For example, according to Guinness World Records, the longest traffic jam ever reported occurred in 1990, on the East-West German border, and involved 18 million cars crawling to a halt. If we’re talking about distance, a traffic jam that occurred in February of this year in Uttar Pradesh could qualify as the longest ever. It reportedly stretched for 300 km across several districts of Madhya Pradesh and kept motorists crawling at a snail’s pace for about 48 hours. But, if we factor in time, there is no beating the China National Highway 110 traffic jam, which lasted for a whopping 12 days and even created a makeshift economy.

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Doctors Find Live Eel Swimming in Man’s Abdominal Cavity

A 33-year-old Chinese man who showed up at the emergency room with severe abdominal pain turned out to have a foot-long live eel in his abdominal cavity.

Yesterday, Chinese newspaper Huaihua Daily reported the unusual case of a Hunan man who showed up at the First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Medical University with a pale face, sweating profusely, and complaining of stomach pain. A CT scan of the man’s abdomen showed a foreign object that seemed to have pierced his stomach and ended up in his abdominal cavity. The man’s abdomen was already as hard as a board, and fearing a potentially fatal peritonitis, doctors decided to perform laparoscopic emergency surgery. While exploring the man’s abdomen, they were shocked to discover a live eel swimming among his organs.

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Chinese Scientists Unveil Mosquito-Sized Surveillance Drone

Scientists at a robotics laboratory at the National University of Defence Technology (NUDT) in central China’s Hunan province recently unveiled a tiny insect-like drone suitable for surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

Revealed to the general public on CCTV 7 (China Central Television’s military channel), the tiny drone featured flapping wings and hair-thin legs, making it almost indistinguishable from real insects. They have the potential to revolutionise various industries and applications thanks to their tiny size, which allows them to access virtually any space and blend into all sorts of environments undetected. Although marketed primarily as a perfect candidate for military reconnaissance missions, many believe that it could be used by the Chinese government for surveillance purposes.

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Chinese City Sets New World Record with 11,787-Drone Light Show

The Chinese City of Chongqing recently set a new Guinness World Record by staging a massive light show with no less than 11,787 drones.

China has become famous for its large-scale drone light show, but “Charming Chongqing”, an event hosted by the city of Chongqing, set a new standard for grand drone light shows and set a new Guinness World Record in the process. It is estimated that more than 100,000 people showed up in downtown Chongqing to watch the world’s largest drone light show on the night of June 17, and they were not disappointed. No less than 11,787 small drones illuminated the night sky, coordinating to form various shapes and written messages that energized the crowd.

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Chinese Man with Small Eyes Keeps Triggering Car’s ‘Asleep at the Wheel’ Warning

A Chinese motorist claims that his new Xiaomi SU7 Max driver fatigue warning keeps triggering because of his really small eyes.

Mr. Li, a young driver from China’s Zhejiang Province, recently bought the luxurious Xiaomi SU7 Max, a beautiful EV sedan powered by a powerful motor capable of taking the car from 0 to 60 mph in just 2.78 seconds. It’s one of the most coveted electric cars in the world right now, but for Li, it has been a pain to drive. Soon after taking his new ride out for a drive, the Chinese man started hearing the “Please focus on driving” warning sound, even though he was not distracted and was watching the road in front of him. The message “Focus on driving, pay attention to safety” kept showing up on the car’s digital display as well, and it took him a while to figure out that his eyes were the problem.

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At China’s ‘Beer Exchange Bar’ Prices Fluctuate According to Demand, Like Stocks

Inspired by iconic stock markets like Wall Street, Qingdao Beer Exchange is a unique bar concept where beer prices fluctuate in real time according to customer demand.

Located in Qingdao, China’s unofficial beer brewing capital, the Qingdao Beer Exchange offers a unique beer drinking experience, with patrons being able to purchase various types of beer at constantly changing prices directly influenced by their purchases. A dynamic circular display above the large venue shows real-time prices and sales data, with the most purchased beers surging in price and the least purchased brews getting a discount. Rising beer prices are displayed in red, and falling ones in blue. Prices can only fluctuate by 10 percent every day, to ensure that no serious market manipulation occurs, and the beers are reset to base price every day. Every week, based on sales data, the facility considers lowering the base prices of the beers and temporarily increasing the price fluctuation range to 20 percent.

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China’s Godlike Math Genius Stuns Internet With Extremely Frugal Lifestyle

Wei Dongyi, one of China’s most famous mathematicians, recently went viral for his unkempt looks and extremely frugal lifestyle, reportedly living on just 300 yuan ($40) per month.

It’s safe to say that China has no shortage of math geniuses, but one among them stands out both for his prowess as a problem solver and his unusually frugal lifestyle. Born in 1991, Wei Dongyi showed amazing potential in the field of mathematics from a very young age, but he only started making news headlines in China during his high school years, when he won gold medals with perfect scores in the 49th and 50th International Mathematical Olympiads. His achievements allowed him to enroll at the prestigious Peking University without taking the infamous gaokao college exam, and he later became a respected teacher there. But, despite his fame as a math genius, Dongyi often attracts attention because of his simple way of life and modest looks.

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Chinese City Moves Entire Historic Neighborhood Using Hundreds of Hydraulic Legs

Shanghai authorities recently moved a traditional shikumen-style building complex at a pace of 10 meters per day with the help of an army of 432 hydraulic-powered robots.

The Huayanli complex, located within Zhangyuan in Shanghai’s Jing’an district, has been touted as China’s largest relocation project of its kind, both in terms of size and complexity. The tight layout of the building complex, which dates back to the 1920s and 1930s, made traditional construction and relocation tools virtually unusable, but authorities needed to find a way to move the entire block several hundred meters for the construction of a three-story underground structure. The project required all sorts of advanced technology that allowed the team in charge to temporarily relocate the 7,382-ton (7,500 metric ton), 13,222 square foot (4,030 square meter) building complex.

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Unemployed Chinese Youths Pay Fake Companies to Hire Them to Pretend to Work

A bizarre trend sweeping through China has unemployed youths paying fees to pretend to work in rented offices for absolutely no financial gain.

Millions of Chinese people report to their office jobs every day, but while the overwhelming majority get paid to do so, some actually pay fake companies to allow them to pretend to work there. In exchange for a daily fee of between 30 and 50 yuan ($4-$7), these specialized companies offer anyone the chance to experience various working environments, complete with desks, lunch facilities, and free Wi-Fi. While most simply allow clients to chill in their facilities, those looking for an extra layer of realism can pay extra for fictitious tasks, fake managers, and even staged employee rebellions. These so-called “pretend-to-work companies” have been growing in popularity this year to meet a growing demand among unemployed youths.

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Pet Yeast Craze Gaining Traction in China

A growing number of young Chinese looking for low-maintenance companionship are turning their attention to jars of activated yeast that only need flour and water.

So-called static pets such as stones, mango pits, paper boxes, and even toothpaste have become very popular with Chinese youths looking for low-commitment companionship to compensate for their stresfull daily lives and careers. However, one such static pet has been seeing massive popularity in the Asian country, “pet yeast”. Nicknamed “face worm” by netizens, the yeast can be “raised” in a simple container by feeding dry yeast with flour, water, and a bit of sugar. After stirring the ingredients, all you need to do is wait a few hours to see the yeast grow into a sticky, bubbling mass that emits a typical wine-like aroma. Apparently, this is enough for young people looking for easy companionship.

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Woman Experiences Shocking Physical Transformation During Pregnancy

A young Chinese woman recently went viral after sharing the dramatic physical transformation she experienced during her pregnancy, changes that have since subsided.

Li Wei, a young woman from Kunming, in China’s Yunnan Province, was ecstatic when she first learned that she had become pregnant. She even looked better, her skin cleared up, and she had this incredible energy. Doctors told her it was normal to feel more radiant, a phenomenon known as the “joy of pregnancy”, because of elevated estrogen and progesterone levels. However, by the fifth month of her pregnancy, Li noticed strange changes to her face; her nose got a lot bigger, and her fine wrinkles became noticeably deeper to the point where she couldn’t recognize herself in the mirror. But this was only the beginning.

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Paraglider Nearly Freezes to Death After Being Sucked Up 28,000 Feet into Clouds

A seasoned paraglider miraculously survived a rare and dangerous phenomenon that saw him being sucked up by clouds to an altitude of 28,210 feet (8,600 meters).

Photos and videos of Chinese paraglider Liu Ge trying to keep his cool (pun intended) as he experienced dangerously low levels of oxygen and temperatures as low as -40 degrees Celsius (-40° Fahrenheit) went viral on social media this week. In them, the experienced paraglider’s clothes and face are covered with ice, and he struggles to breathe and keep from passing out because of the low oxygen. On May 24th, Liu Ge took off from about 3,000 meters in the Qilian Mountains, on the border between western Gansu and northeastern Qinghai, but as he was paragliding, a cumulonimbus cloud appeared behind him and he ended up being lifted higher and higher, above the clouds.

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Real Steel – Chinese Comany Holds World’s First Humanoid Robot Fighting Competition

Chinese robotics company Unitree showcased the fighting capabilities of its G1 robot model in what was advertised as the world’s first-ever humanoid robot fighting competition.

Remember Real Steel, the 2011 sci-fi flick starring Hugh Jackman as a struggling ex-boxer turned robot fighting coach? It was set in the “near future”, but who would have thought that we would really have robot fighting competitions just over a decade later? Just last week, Unitree, a robotics company based in China’s Zhejiang Province, held a unique kickboxing competition to show the capabilities of its G1 robot. Standing only 130 cm (4ft 3in) tall and weighing 35 kilograms (77lbs), the G1 is a small, lightweight robot capable of smooth, fluid movements, and displaying impressive balance and recovery ability. And what better way to showcase these features than having G1 robots go at it as part of the world’s first ever robot fighting competition?!

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Excessive Sunscreen Protection Causes Woman to Break Bones by Rolling in Bed

A Chinese woman with severe vitamin D deficiency caused by excessive sunscreen use suffered a bone fracture just by rolling in her bed.

Doctors at the XinDu Traditional Medicine Hospital, in Chengdu, China, recently reported the unusual case of a 48-year-old local woman who had apparently suffered a bone fracture just by casually rolling in bed. According to Dr. Long Shuang, tests performed at the hospital showed that the unnamed woman’s vitamin D levels were extremely low, which had accelerated bone loss and caused the onset of severe osteoporosis. Further investigation revealed that the patient had avoided sunlight since childhood, rarely wearing short-sleeved shirts and always applying sunscreen when going outside. Her case was presented as a warning for other sunscreen enthusiasts who might be overusing it and thus affecting their bone health.

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