[US Hot Searches] Huawei on Trial: Video of 'Stealing Technology' Leaked | Pre-Trump-Xi Summit Maneuvers: From State Dinner Seating to Rare Earths and Chips | Where Is Ren Zhengfei? | After Formaldehyde Cabbages, Now Sulfur Bamboo Shoots | 10-Year-Olds Depressed, Graduates Unemployed: How Exhausted Are Chinese Youth? | Too Old at 25, Even Taking a Break Requires Approval

The main content of this episode includes: rumors that Ren Zhengfei's daughter, Yao Anna, threatened netizens are determined to be photoshopped; exposure of the sulfur-treated bamboo shoot issue in Qingyuan; a video of sisters reuniting in Zhejiang sparking heated debate; a middle school in Guangzhou banning teachers from abstaining in people's congress elections; the homeowners' committee of Xinghai Mingcheng in Beihai, Guangxi, facing resistance during a ballot box opening; a business in Jiangxi having its tax registration forcibly restored after cancellation; Jiangxi workers performing sewer maintenance without protection and JD.com delivery riders requiring approval for breaks; employees of Aijia Supermarket in Zhumadian, Henan, pooling funds to defend their rights; comparisons between BYD and Tesla benefits, and discussions on the purchasing power of German cleaners; villagers in Tangshan, Hebei, protesting pollution from iron ore mining; a 10-year-old suffering from severe depression, high school students facing extreme vacation compression, food safety issues in school cafeterias, and mud-pit military training at Enshi College; the rise in youth unemployment in August; an Anhui teacher complaining about the heavy burden of teaching and research; a military aircraft in Longxi, Gansu, releasing flares during night training; Bloomberg and NPR revealing the behind-the-scenes maneuvering between the U.S. and China ahead of the Trump-Xi summit regarding state dinner seating, rare earths, chips, and Boeing aircraft orders; the disclosure of a video involving Huawei being tried in the U.S. for stealing T-Mobile robotic equipment; and a community in Dongying, Shandong, promoting elderly care services.

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Recently, rumors on Twitter about Ren Zhengfei's entire family fleeing have been intensifying. We usually filter out such obviously fake rumors on our U.S. Hot Search, but this rumor has fermented and spread widely. Yesterday, a post allegedly from Ren Zhengfei's daughter, Yao Anna, on Xiaohongshu caused another public outcry. The content of this Xiaohongshu comment screenshot shows a netizen named "Yuge Longxing Tianxia" asking if something happened to Huawei, and the account signed "Yao Anna Annabel" replied: "Trash, you never know what class you live in. I can make your whole family disappear with one phone call, whether it's the police or the underworld, take your pick." This screenshot quickly hit the hot search and spread to Twitter and WeChat. We carefully studied this screenshot and determined it is highly suspected to be a photoshopped forgery. The main flaws include incorrect color schemes for the author tag, the official Xiaohongshu red background with white text being misaligned with the username, inconsistent comments from the past week, and the note account name "Anna" lacking a normal space. Another suspicious point is that Yao Anna's recent Weibo and Xiaohongshu dynamic IPs consistently showed Guizhou, and after her public appearance in Beijing on September 14, she had already moved to Guizhou, making the time and location inconsistent. At the same time, no one can find the original post or the original comment record from "Yuge Longxing Tianxia" on September 11. A full week has passed since the Twitter account "Chengzi" first broke the news about Ren Zhengfei's family fleeing, and Huawei has not made an official response, nor has its powerful legal team sent a lawyer's letter as is customary, which is indeed very "un-Huawei." The online gambling site "ponymartin," which became famous during the 2024 presidential election, has even opened a betting market on whether Ren Zhengfei will appear. The current odds are 30% for an appearance before September 30, 40% before October 31, and 64% before December 31. Moreover, the rules are written strictly: it must be a real photo or video taken after the market opens. Dear viewers, if you were to place a bet, which date would you choose? Please leave a comment in the section below.

Now let's move to the "Watching China via Mobile" segment. A blogger who previously exposed the "nine white" issue and the "curiosity seeker" have now set their sights on sulfur-treated bamboo shoots. Preliminary sampling and testing revealed that even after being left out for several days, the sulfur dioxide residue in the problematic bamboo shoots remained severely excessive. It is worth noting that Qingyuan accounts for over 90% of China's moso bamboo production. The most terrifying aspect of food safety in China is not just another instance of "tech-enhanced" food production, but how many more such cases remain undiscovered. Netizens lamented that there isn't much safe food left in China. Recently, a video on the Chinese internet left netizens heartbroken. On September 6, a Zhejiang netizen shared a video of sisters separated by the Taiwan Strait reuniting at an airport. The younger sister grew up in Taiwan, while the older sister grew up in mainland China; the sisters are six years apart in age. In the video, netizens could tell at a glance who was from Taiwan and who was from mainland China. This netizen said, "Her mother is really gone," and found her own QQ account. Netizens commented that this is the difference between someone who has eaten "90-year-old cabbage" for 70 years versus someone who has eaten healthy food for decades. After the video of the elderly sisters reuniting went viral, many netizens used domestic AI to analyze it, but the results all provided incorrect judgments contrary to the facts. They identified the mainland elderly woman in the purple top as the sister returning from Taiwan to visit relatives, claiming she specifically wore clothes she was reluctant to wear and borrowed silver bracelets, while also deliberately emphasizing that Taiwan is part of China, thus concluding both elderly women are Chinese. Netizens sighed, saying that China is quite pathetic; they clearly understand everything, yet they can only play dumb according to the instructions of their superiors.

The CCP has always emphasized that it practices "whole-process democracy," but democracy emphasizes the people's votes. Let's take a look at how "whole-process democracy" in China conducts elections. Recently, a middle school within the system in Guangzhou began its People's Congress election, prohibiting teachers from abstaining and explicitly instructing them privately on who to vote for. Netizens joked, "Take People's Congress representatives for example; when we were in elementary school, even electing a 'Three-Good Student' was all based on what the teacher said." On September 16, at the Xinghai Mingcheng Phase II residential complex in Beihai, Guangxi, the opening of ballot boxes for the homeowners' committee was met with strong resistance from residents. When staff members read out the vote counts on stage, residents below immediately questioned, "We didn't even vote, where did these votes come from? Are you directing and acting this out yourselves?" With such a major project happening, you still have to sing that "we are all the same"; where is the creativity? Netizens mocked that singing and dancing without even having a vote isn't a democratic exercise; it's a public insult to intelligence.

To what extent are local governments in China currently short of money? Recently, netizens revealed that a group of businesses in Jiangxi that had already ceased operations and deregistered were being forced by local authorities to restore their tax registrations and be brought back under tax management. Today, Wang Kai encountered for the first time in his life that a deregistered company was forced to restore its registration. It was deregistered in September five years ago, and on June 22 this year, the registration was forcibly restored. The owner felt very heavy-hearted upon hearing this because his costs are high, which is a common problem for enterprises. Having just come out of the tax office, he was restored because, at the time of deregistration, the financial statements showed over 300,000 yuan in undistributed profits. The tax officer said to pay 20% tax on it; the officer taught you how to manipulate accounting, resulting in it being gone. In the past, when starting a company, the biggest fear was that business would be bad and you would go bankrupt. Now it seems that even if you go bankrupt, the tax bureau can come over and ask, "Who allowed you to die? Stand up quickly and pay your taxes."

How miserable are China's low-income frontline workers? In addition to low wages and extremely long working hours, the working environment is severely lacking. Recently, in Jiangxi, a worker without any obvious safety measures held his breath and dove directly into a filthy sewer to clean it. Many netizens asked why such dangerous work lacks even the most basic protective equipment. Beyond safety standards, there are harsh work requirements. On September 12, netizens discovered that a store in a certain stock-investor's family chain recruited employees with an age limit of only 25. Netizens believe this age restriction reflects excessively high labor intensity and a desire for young people to stand and work for long periods. Some netizens who work night shifts complained that graduating, failing to find a job, and even trying to work at milk tea shops gets rejected for being too old. For some bottom-tier workers in China, even taking a rest may require applying upward for muscle-rest approval, a system that has already been rolled out on a large scale nationwide. Netizens revealed that JD delivery riders must now apply for rest and wait for station master approval. In particular, weight-loss platforms have launched rest management systems in multiple locations; without approval, riders cannot stop taking orders, and the system continues to dispatch them. Some submitted rest requests only to see the page show rejection, meaning riders will apparently need approval from above just to catch their breath in the future. Even more miserable are the workers whose companies suddenly collapse financially. On September 14, over a hundred panicked employees and crowdfunding investors of Aijia Supermarket in Zhumadian, Henan, besieged company chairman Wang Haizhou to demand the return of their funds. According to employee leaks, the company had long encouraged workers to deposit their wages and savings into so-called Tianzhong Cards, and some even deposited money from friends and family. In August, the company suffered an economic crisis, multiple supermarkets closed, and cash withdrawals were halted. Employees ultimately had to take to the streets for rights defense and clashed with the police on the scene. A video post about a worker who jumped ship from BYD to Tesla stated that he had a low education level, but after changing jobs, with room and board provided, his salary doubled to over 10,000 RMB a month. He said his days at BYD were bitter, and it's much better tasting the flavor of working in a foreigner's factory. However, what truly broke the psychological defense of Chinese netizens came next. On September 16, a vlogger demonstrated shopping for food at a German Aldi supermarket using the 25-euro hourly wage of a German cleaner—about 200 RMB. As it turned out, the Aldi cashier in the video was sitting down while working. A Chinese employee commented: "I'm also an L employee, why can't I sit down to work?" Netizens complained: "I screw bolts in the Heavenly Dynasty for 18 RMB an hour." On September 16, villagers in Xujiagou Village, Tangshan, Hebei, protested against pollution and environmental damage caused by iron ore mining. The local government mobilized personnel, police (Public Security), and SWAT police into the village to suppress the rights-defending villagers and forcibly advance the mine construction. Pollution in China can be negotiated, but opposing pollution is strictly forbidden. Netizens said that official-business collusion harms the common people and must be severely punished.

How much pressure are young people in China facing right now? On September 16, a parent shared that their 10-year-old child was diagnosed with severe depression symptoms. The question is: why would a child so young bear such heavy psychological pressure? To answer this question, let's take a look at what kind of lives Chinese youth, especially students, are living today. Recently, a high school student tearfully complained about their holiday schedule: school lets out at 3:20 PM on Saturday, and they must return to school before 3:00 PM on Sunday. By the time they go home, finish their homework, and sleep, is it basically time to go back to school again? Another photo circulating online is even more heartbreaking: next to a public telephone on the wall of a middle school, students densely carved two words into the brick: "Go Home." Being tired from studying is one thing, but students' basic living conditions at school also run into problems. On September 16, a large number of students at a middle school in Dandong, Liaoning, developed acute gastroenteritis symptoms such as vomiting after eating, and many were rushed to the hospital. The local authorities reported the next day that preliminary judgments indicated it was caused by improper food processing in the school cafeteria, while parents had previously complained about the quality of the school's food. Eating safely at school is out of the question, and military training is becoming increasingly absurd. On September 16, during military training at Enshi Vocational and Technical College in Hubei, multiple students were ordered to brave heavy rain and enter muddy pits to engage in so-called muddy pit combat. I have to say, once these kids grit their teeth, finish their studies, and graduate, will things get easier? No, if anything, it will probably become even harder. The South China Morning Post recently reported that China's newly released youth unemployment rate for those aged 16 to 24 in August has risen to 18.9%, up further from 17.9% in July, and this does not even include current students. This summer, China also had a record-breaking 12.7 million college graduates entering the job market. These students studied desperately, only to face an even more crowded job market upon graduation. What's even more absurd is that it's not just students who are being driven to the brink of a breakdown—teachers can't take it anymore either. Recently, a teacher at No. 1 Middle School in Tongling, Anhui, posted a complaint saying that in addition to normal teaching, they constantly have to participate in teaching and research activities, write study reflections, work on thesis projects, guidelines, and test papers. This teacher broke down, asking why work cannot just be about teaching classes, adding how painful it is and how much they want to escape it all. Netizens say that political depression is not uncommon in China, but unfortunately, most of the time it is ultimately dismissed as individual depression, while the political and social environment that creates this sense of powerlessness, fear, and despair is hardly ever openly discussed. The PLA conducts training to jam the enemy—as a result, who knows if the enemy was jammed, but are ordinary citizens being jammed now? On the evening of September 16, residents in Longxi County, Dingxi City, Gansu Province, filmed suspected military aircraft conducting night training in the urban airspace and continuously releasing a large amount of suspected chaff/jamming materials, but officials have not yet explained what specific training it was. Netizens complained: why does this kind of training have to be conducted near residential areas? Dear viewers, what do you think?

Now let's move on to the foreign media's perspective on China. With less than a week left before the meeting, behind-the-scenes information about the summit continues to leak out. On September 17, Bloomberg cited people familiar with the matter as saying that when the Chinese side screens the entrepreneurs who will accompany Xi Jinping on his visit to the U.S., they are considering not only potential U.S. business deals, but also their loyalty to the CCP and whether they can avoid stealing the spotlight from Xi Jinping. The report stated that high-level officials such as Cai Qi are reviewing the list of delegates, and BYD founder Wang Chuanfu is among those under consideration. In addition, NPR exclusively interviewed ten current and former U.S. officials and three people involved in the summit preparations, revealing some quite interesting behind-the-scenes information before the workshop: the tables have not even been set up in the factory, how to arrange them, who sits where, and even what exactly the two sides will discuss have not been fully finalized. The report said that the briefings and talking points prepared by various U.S. government departments for Trump have not been fully completed, and even the number of seats for the Chinese delegation at the state dinner on the evening of September 24 has not been finalized, which directly affects which Chinese tech company executives Xi Jinping will bring to the U.S. The report said that this state dinner only has about 100 seats, while the state dinner Obama held for Xi Jinping during his 2015 visit to the U.S. had about 200 people. NPR claimed that the Chinese side hoped to get more than half of the seats to arrange for the Chinese corporate executives who might accompany them, but the White House did not agree. Trump's tendency to make decisions at the last minute apparently makes Beijing a bit uncomfortable. Over the past few months, senior officials at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Politburo level have privately expressed concerns to the U.S. side that with the summit so close, the U.S. agenda, security, and protocol details are still constantly being adjusted. After Trump visited Beijing this May, a senior Chinese diplomat even privately criticized the U.S. side for being too sloppy in its preparations, while the U.S. side insisted on one principle this time, called complete reciprocity: Xi Jinping's treatment in Washington cannot exceed the treatment Trump received when he visited Beijing in May. NPR stated that the Chinese side once considered arranging for Xi Jinping to give a speech at an American university in Washington, but because Trump did not give a speech at a Chinese university when he visited China, this idea was later abandoned. However, a senior U.S. official stated that the White House never officially received this request. Beyond protocol, the truly difficult part is interests. First are rare earths and chips. China has temporarily suspended some rare earth export controls, while the U.S. has postponed some advanced chip export restrictions. Both arrangements are set to expire on November 10, but both sides now believe the other has not fully fulfilled the agreement. The U.S. complains that some companies cannot get the rare earth export licenses they need, meaning China is dissatisfied with Japan's rare earth restrictions, and China is dissatisfied with the U.S. continuing to tighten restrictions on Chinese tech products such as drones and routers entering the U.S. market. In addition, there is the issue of the Boeing ban. When Trump visited China, Beijing publicly promised to purchase at least 200 Boeing aircraft, but the deal is now facing obstacles. One reason is that China needs the U.S. to provide parts for Boeing aircraft, and at the same time, the C919 passenger aircraft is also highly dependent on U.S. and European parts. Clearly, while the U.S. and China talk about strategic stability, they are still choking each other on chips, basic analysis, and tech products. More interestingly, NPR revealed that before Trump's visit to China in May this year, the Chinese side had proposed extending the suspension period of rare earth controls until the end of Trump's term, that is, January 2029, but the U.S. did not accept it, hoping only to extend it for six months first, because Washington believes that better terms might be negotiated later. Nevertheless, NPR stated that the Chinese side remains generally optimistic about this summit. The report said that what Beijing really wants may not be how many specific agreements Trump signs on the spot, but to establish what the Chinese side calls a constructive strategic stability relationship. Beijing also hopes that the government will go to Shenzhen in November this year to attend the APEC meeting, allowing the highest-level diplomacy between the two countries to continue. Beijing hopes to use the menu as an agenda, and even arrange the next meeting in advance, while the preliminary government is still preparing and reserving chips while playing in the final days. However, how the table is set is ultimately just a small matter; what is really on the table is rare earths, chips, Boeing, and tech restrictions. There will soon be an answer as to how many seats China will be given at the luncheon, but as for who between the U.S. and China is willing to loosen their grip on the other's throat first, that is likely the real issue to be discussed on the 19th and 24th.

We reported last week that during Huawei's criminal trial in New York, it was revealed that the prosecution would play a video of Huawei employees stealing robotic equipment during the trial. On September 16, this video was officially disclosed. In the video, Huawei employees were stealing parts for T-Mobile's phone testing robot, Tappy. Netizens mocked that the Chinese Communist Party has truly built a spy company, conducting espionage and stealing technology all over the world. Huawei denied that this was an organized theft by the company. The defense claimed that the T-Mobile incident was the act of individual employees, and the company's management had already dealt with it after discovering the problem. Huawei emphasized that the company's success comes from competition and innovation, not crime. Dear viewers, do you believe Huawei's claim that this was the act of individual employees? Please leave a comment in the comments section.

Next, let's look at a few short videos. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has an endless stream of clever tricks to deal with the aging population. On September 14, a community in Dongying, Shandong, announced that starting this year, it would implement a new community governance project where residents aged 60 to 70 provide volunteer services to the elderly aged 70 to 90. Netizens commented that one doesn't even need to think to know this was surely a decision made by some leader on a whim; he might think his idea is perfect, but in reality, it is a [censored]. Below, this talented netizen used an animation to comment on Chinese society, saying that the most pathetic slaves are not the cattle and horses chained by iron, but the guard dogs who hold half a brick of the Great Firewall and think they are superior to others.

At the end of the program, we enter the netizen interaction segment. Qinyilanwei commented on the Shaanxi miners demanding unpaid wages, saying that in Shanxi, some coal mines haven't even finished paying last year's wages, and this year many workers have no shifts because coal mines are either shutting down or limiting production. Frank Xu commented on the government's chengguan (urban management officers) and police driving away street vendors, saying, "If you don't let ordinary people run small businesses, where will the money come from for you to rob? You've even dug up the leek roots; don't you want to harvest the leeks anymore?" Kathy Wang said, "I started working at 18 in 1975. At that time, China had just started implementing the two-day weekend, and all kinds of private business owners tried every possible way to deny employees this benefit. 30 years have passed, and everyone is still fighting for the two-day weekend; it is truly pathetic." That's all for today's US hot search. Thank you for watching. New viewers, if you like our program, please help by liking and subscribing, and help us spread these voices from outside the Great Firewall further. Additionally, friends who want to support our channel more can consider joining the US-China Benchmarking membership. We will see you in the next episode.