【US Trending】New Tricks in Shandong Inspection | Han Hong's Streetwise Jargon | PLA Daily Criticizes Japan over World Cup | Guangdong Residential Community Residents Battle Property Management | Bank of China Evades 2.4 Billion in Taxes | CIA Analyst Analyzes Wang Qishan | Xu Chenggang Defines the Chinese System | Alibaba Caught Red-Handed in Distillation | China's Tallest Building: China Zun
This episode reports on several hot news topics both inside and outside of China, including a small plane crashing into the CITIC Tower in Beijing, Xi Jinping's inspection tour in Shandong, the controversy over World Cup commentary by Anhui state media, homeowners in Qingqing, Guangdong, dismissing their old property management company, the National Audit Office revealing that the Bank of China evaded 2.4 billion in taxes, a CIA analyst disclosing the inside story of Wang Qishan being under house arrest, economist Xu Chenggang characterizing the Chinese system as totalitarian, Alibaba being accused by a US company of large-scale AI distillation attacks, and absurd videos such as Han Hong's street-smart rhetoric and Chinese-style services in Africa.
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US Hot Search lets you hear the voice from outside the wall. Hello viewers, welcome to today's US Hot Search, I am Qi Xiaotian. First, a breaking news report: on the evening of June 26, the tallest building in Beijing, the CITIC Tower, also known as China Zun, was struck by a small aircraft. As you can see, a hole was punched into the glass curtain wall on the 83rd floor of China Zun, and in the video, fragments can be seen falling. From another angle, you can see that the entrance of the China Zun building is on fire. After the CITIC Tower was struck, employees inside the building fled through emergency exits. The following is the wreckage of the aircraft at the scene of the impact. China Zun is located in the core area of Beijing's CBD, with a total height of 528 meters and 108 floors above ground. It is not only Beijing's tallest landmark building but also the fourth tallest building in China and the eighth tallest in the world. We used Google Maps to measure the distance from China Zun to Tiananmen, which is 5.6 kilometers—very close. The weather in Beijing was good on the day of the incident with high visibility. The aircraft's flight path shows that it is really hard to explain it as a deviation; the pilot's motives cannot help but lead to speculation. Additionally, according to netizens: based on a reconstruction of the original FR24 data, the B-12PP aircraft allegedly turned off its transponder before hitting the CITIC Tower. There is news that the Capital Airport issued an emergency notice around 18:00 on the afternoon of the 26th, changing all northbound flights to southbound, and it was heard on the approach frequency that air traffic control confirmed with multiple flights whether they could visually observe fixed-wing aircraft activity. Shortly after, news broke that a small plane had crashed into the CITIC Tower. A screenshot circulating online says: this specific B-12PP aircraft, piloted by member Liu Junhua, took off from Shifosi Airport at 17:30. At 17:40, while preparing to return for landing and joining the west flight path for Runway 18, the aircraft did not join the landing pattern normally but deviated from the local airspace and maintained a 270-degree heading. The local radar monitored the aircraft near the East Fifth Ring Road, after which there was no signal. Subsequent attempts to contact approach and the Air Force failed to yield further information. Some netizens filmed counter-terrorism helicopters entering the airspace near the CITIC Tower to patrol. Currently, content regarding the impact on Beijing's CITIC Tower is being widely deleted on Chinese social media. This is all the information we have been able to collect so far; if there is any new news, we will update it in a timely manner.
Next, we enter the "Looking at China via Mobile" segment. The video just now was a scene from Xi Jinping's recent visit to the Central Cadre School of the Workers' Party of Korea. It seems Xi Jinping really likes the way North Koreans welcome him with applause. After returning to the country, he brought back the advanced culture of East Korea. On June 24, Xi Jinping inspected Xiyujia Village in Lingcheng District, Shandong. Let's see if the "enthusiastic" applause organized by the local government looks like theirs. Netizens joked: whoever stops clapping first will be the first to undergo political vetting. Another netizen said: they didn't learn it thoroughly; the North Korean masses also have jumping movements. During Xi Jinping's inspection in Shandong, these politically reliable commoners organized to be there clapped with numb expressions. However, the processing shop of one of their fellow Shandong villagers was "forcibly demolished in a mafia-style manner." On June 23, an electric welding processing shop on University Road in Mudan District, Heze City, Shandong Province, was forcibly demolished. Surveillance footage from 1:00 AM on the 26th shows a large group of people dressed in black appearing near the scene, then climbing over the wall to enter the courtyard to carry out the forced demolition. Netizens mocked: Socialism is good, socialism is wonderful, when socialism demolishes your home, you can't run away. President Xi shouldn't be bothering the common people with welcome ceremonies during the busy farming season; he should learn from Emperor Kangxi and conduct undercover visits to understand the people's plight, though he probably doesn't have the guts.
In our last episode, we reported on the news that CCTV commentators were biased and made snide remarks about the Japanese team during the live broadcast of the World Cup match where Japan defeated Tunisia 4-0. On June 23, the "Anhui Commentary" Douyin account posted: "The PLA official media 'Jun Zhengping' said: The World Cup arena is not a place to summon the ghosts of militarism." As a result, the comment section backfired. Netizens said: A real man should appear on the World Cup stage; I suggest going to the World Cup to teach the Japanese team a lesson by beating them 7-0. Other netizens went off-topic, saying: As a middle-aged person who lost my job, let me say something heartbreaking: the stock market plummeted again today. Currently, "Anhui Commentary" has enabled the "Author only allows mutual followers to comment" feature. Shanghai is indeed the ceiling of China's modern cities. Some Shanghai fans uploaded videos of themselves gathering to cheer for the Japanese team, which led netizens to humorously say: They are all going home with a social credit score of zero.
The Chinese IT professional below returned to China from Japan two years ago "in tears," vowing that he would rather beg at home than go abroad again. However, just one month after returning, he experienced the iron fist of Chinese socialism and ultimately made the choice to leave the country again. Netizens mocked: "Those who watch Chinese political propaganda all day think the country is great while living abroad, but once you actually let them go back and experience it, they tuck their tails and run. This person was still able to get out again; how many people return only to find they can never leave, regretting it for the rest of their lives?"
In our last episode, we reported on homeowners in Chengdu blocking roads to defend their rights because they couldn't change their property management company. However, even if homeowners actually fire a property management company, it doesn't necessarily mean the company will leave. On June 19, at the Dijingwan residential complex in Qingyuan, Guangdong, the old property management company, having been dismissed by homeowners for long-term negligence, refused to withdraw and blocked the new property management company from entering the complex that day, triggering a fierce conflict that left one homeowner injured. The local government subsequently dispatched a large number of police to the scene to finally quell the situation, and the old property management company was successfully driven out of the complex by the homeowners. A netizen said: "Property management companies can be driven out of a complex, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) can also be driven out of China."
When money is tight, the Eastern Palace will even raid the Western Palace's home. On June 23, the National Audit Office released the "State Council Audit Report on the Execution of the 2025 Central Budget and Other Fiscal Revenues and Expenditures," which disclosed that the Bank of China had evaded 2.4 billion yuan in taxes. The report shows that between April 2023 and August 2025, the Bank of China used two subordinate financial institutions as business channels, arranging for a large number of employees to contribute 1 to 100 yuan each to "make up the numbers," packaging 11 private equity funds as public offering fund products. By exploiting tax preferential policies related to public offering funds, they cumulatively underpaid 2.367 billion yuan in taxes. The blogger below explains the absurd predicament of China's banking industry, with the title: "Bank of China takes black humor to a new height." Commenting on the CCP raiding its own, a netizen said: "The snake in the game 'Snake' has finally started eating itself. Keep it up."
Next, we enter the 'Foreign Media on China' segment: Xi Jinping's purges in the name of anti-corruption have intensified over the years, but another more covert purge is unfolding within the CCP, and one of the targets is none other than Wang Qishan, who once wielded the sword of anti-corruption for Xi Jinping. Former senior U.S. intelligence official Dennis Wilder analyzed this in The Diplomat. He previously served as Senior Director for Asian Affairs at the U.S. National Security Council and was a senior CIA analyst on China, long responsible for research on Chinese politics and leadership. He relies not only on intelligence analysis but also on his personal experience of having direct contact with Wang Qishan multiple times. He discovered that Wang Qishan had actually been in political danger as early as 2018. The article states: Although Wang Qishan has not yet been formally charged with a crime, he is already in a state of near house arrest; since October 2023, Chinese state media has not mentioned him once. At the same time, Xi Jinping has systematically purged the network of connections Wang Qishan built over many years. Just last month, Wang Qishan's former secretary, Li Xiaohong, was placed under investigation; previously, many of Wang Qishan's former subordinates, including Dong Hong, Tian Huiyu, and Zhou Liang, had also fallen. Xi Jinping is purging even close confidants like Wang Qishan, not because of anti-corruption, but to ensure that party elders cannot influence the power layout for next year's 21st National Congress, completely clearing the obstacles for his pursuit of a fourth term.
Historically, retired senior officials of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have always held significant influence over the succession arrangements of top leaders; for example, Chen Yun was instrumental in pushing Jiang Zemin to power after the June 4th incident. Therefore, Xi Jinping's weakening of Wang Qishan and his political network is essentially a crucial step for Xi to consolidate his personal lifelong rule. Dennis Wilder specifically recalled his interactions with Wang Qishan. When Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008, Wilder was serving on the U.S. National Security Council and witnessed firsthand the cooperation between U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Wang Qishan. Wilder noted that Wang Qishan was once one of the few reformist figures in China who truly understood economics and finance and was capable of communicating with the West. However, as early as 2018, when Wilder met Wang Qishan at Zhongnanhai with a Brookings Institution delegation, he sensed that Wang was already in political trouble. At that time, Wang was Vice President, yet he was not wearing his usual suit; instead, he was dressed like an ordinary factory worker and repeatedly emphasized that "Xi Jinping is the decision-maker." This detail was profound: a once-powerful CCP heavyweight had begun to cautiously pledge loyalty to the supreme power. Wang Qishan did not challenge Xi Jinping and even faithfully executed Xi's anti-corruption tasks, but precisely because of his high prestige, deep connections, and extensive roots in the financial system, he became a potential threat that Xi Jinping could not tolerate. The CCP authorities would, of course, claim this is about fighting "corrupt tigers," but the problem is that those close to Xi Jinping's family are rarely investigated, while those who are investigated are often labeled as "two-faced people" or "fake loyalists." Therefore, this purge does not truly demonstrate how great the anti-corruption campaign is, but rather how deep Xi Jinping's power anxiety runs. Wang Qishan once "fought tigers" for him, only to eventually discover that the biggest tiger was none other than that power machine that forever devours people.
Foreign media often describe China as an authoritarian state, but economist Professor Xu Chenggang argues that China is, in fact, a totalitarian state. The prominent American English-language media outlet "The Wire China" recently published an exclusive interview with economist Xu Chenggang. In the interview, Xu proposed that China should be defined as a "totalitarian state" rather than the "authoritarian state" long used by the outside world, and he believes that Western academia has misjudged the essence of China's political system for decades. Xu stated that the core system of the CCP regime was not formed after the Reform and Opening-up, but was inherited from the Soviet Leninist system, and its basic institutional framework has not fundamentally changed since 1949. Xu introduced the concept of "institutional genes," arguing that even though China has undergone market-oriented reforms and experienced tremendous economic and social changes, the core political system that determines how the country operates has maintained continuity; thus, the reforms have not changed the essence of the system.
In the interview, Xu Chenggang also proposed the concept of "regionally decentralized totalitarianism," arguing that China allows local governments to compete in economic development and investment attraction while maintaining the central government's absolute control over all levels of power through the CCP's organizational system. This model differs from the Soviet planned economy system familiar to the outside world and is also distinct from authoritarian states in the general sense; it is a key feature of China's political system. Xu believes that over the past few decades, many Western scholars and policymakers viewed China as a country gradually moving toward a market economy and political openness, believing that economic development would eventually drive political reform. However, facts have proven that this judgment overlooked the inherent self-perpetuating capability of China's system and underestimated the CCP's organizational system's ability to exert comprehensive control over the state, society, and the economy. In recent years, as China has continuously strengthened national security, ideology, and the Party's leadership in all fields, the debate over whether China belongs to authoritarianism or totalitarianism has heated up again. Xu Chenggang believes that if the essence of China's system is not accurately understood, the international community may continue to misjudge China's development direction and long-term strategy in the future.
Jack Ma once said, "Make it easy to do business anywhere," but what Alibaba is facing today is not whether business is difficult to do, but rather that an American AI company suspects it has turned "copying homework" into an industry. According to reports from The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, the American AI company Anthropic has accused Alibaba of launching what is currently known as the largest-scale AI "distillation attack." The report states that in a letter to U.S. senators, Anthropic pointed out that Alibaba and its AI team created nearly 25,000 fake accounts and, through nearly 29 million interactions with the Claude model, attempted to extract its core capabilities, including intelligent agent reasoning, software engineering, and long-task processing abilities. Since Claude is not open to Chinese entities, Anthropic believes this is an organized, large-scale illegal model distillation operation, equivalent to turning the results of billions of dollars in U.S. R&D into free teaching materials for competitors. Anthropic stated that this is not the first time it has discovered Chinese AI laboratories conducting large-scale distillation to extract Claude's capabilities; it disclosed similar behavior by three Chinese AI institutions in February this year and called on the U.S. government to further strengthen chip export controls and legislate penalties for AI companies involved in model distillation. The U.S. government also warned in April this year that foreign entities, including China, are continuously carrying out industrial-scale AI distillation operations.
After the news was released, Alibaba's Hong Kong shares fell by nearly 5% at one point, hitting a 16-month low; Chinese AI concept stocks such as Xiaomi and Baidu also fell in tandem. However, many analysts believe that the market's reaction is not particularly intense because this is not the first time such accusations have been made. What is truly worth paying attention to is whether the U.S. will further tighten restrictions on Chinese AI companies as a result. Bloomberg analysis suggests that the U.S. has recently banned foreign nationals from using Anthropic's most advanced models, which shows that Washington is adopting a tougher AI control policy, and the risk of Chinese AI companies encountering more technical blockades in the future is rising. At the same time, Alibaba is also facing pressure from weak domestic consumption; core e-commerce revenue for this year's "618" shopping festival fell by about 8% year-on-year, leading Nomura to lower its earnings forecast for Alibaba for the 2027 fiscal year. If Anthropic's accusations are ultimately proven true, what Alibaba has learned this time is likely not AI, but a new script for U.S. sanctions. For Alibaba, the biggest headache right now may not be whether its models are smart enough, but whether it can continue to "pirate courses" smoothly in the future.
Next, let's look at a few absurd videos. Han Hong asked ordinary people to be the music producers for her movie "Catching Spies" (Zhua Te Wu), and that smooth Beijing accent was full of street-smart flavor; recently, netizens dug up more of her street-smart rhetoric. Han Hong's native place switching speed is more sensitive than mobile phone GPS—wherever there is a camera, that is her hometown; wherever there is applause, that is her family home. While others return to their roots like falling leaves, she treats the trending list as her home base, automatically updating.
Xi Jinping has personally instructed everyone to "tell China's story well and spread China's voice well." However, China's cultural output to the outside world may not be as great as he imagines. Netizens filmed China exporting the standard of absurd service to a restaurant in Africa. In the video, African waiters provide Chinese-style service entirely in Chinese. Netizens said: These waiters are probably forced to practice 'Oh, brother, you are so handsome' smile service every day. The African brothers are probably all asking, is this restaurant opened by Chinese people, or have we been colonized?
At the end of the program, we enter the netizen interaction segment. Sure commented on property owners being unable to change property management companies: If residential community residents can freely choose property management companies, one day Chinese people will demand the freedom to choose their government. Guguge commented on Feng Xiaogang complaining about garbage audiences: Garbage culture produces garbage audiences, and garbage audiences produce garbage movies. Bu Lü commented on Jack Ma planting rice in the fields: In ancient times, only emperors would go down to the fields to plant rice for show; Emperor Qianlong was like that. Jack Ma is blatantly trying to rebel. Today's U.S. trending topics.
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