[US Hot Search] China Just Denied It, Iran "Confessed" | Arrested One Moment, China Distances Itself the Next | Domestic Demand Stalls, China Clings to Exports | How Chinese People See the Trump-Xi Meeting: What Meeting? | Undergrads Turn Screws, Boss Takes Holiday and Runs Off: What Future Is There to Talk About? | Before the Cars Leave the Factory, Employees Yell "Run for It"

The main topics of this episode include: the death of a laboratory technician at the Irkutsk Plague Research Institute in Russia, the concerns of the World Health Organization, and the background of China-Russia joint exercises; Iranian media revealing that China had provided it with satellite imagery; the arrest of Chinese spy Zhang Wanying in Los Angeles; highway toll issues in Guizhou and the incident where a delivery rider was threatened with a chainsaw at a toll station in Ningdu, Jiangxi; disputes involving a former Chinese women's national football team player at the Asian Games in Japan and the phenomenon of xenophobia toward foreign tourists in various parts of China; employment difficulties such as undergraduates from Guizhou University of Finance and Economics working in factories, low hourly wages for part-time jobs at Mixue Bingcheng, and BYD employees writing "run away quickly"; foreign media reports on China's dilemma of stimulating exports through currency devaluation and tax rebates; a Politico investigation into the awareness of the Trump-Xi meeting among ordinary Chinese citizens; as well as online brainwashing videos and netizen commentary.

Video link:

Full text:

"US Hot Search" lets you hear the voices from outside the Great Firewall. Hello, viewers, welcome to today's "US Hot Search," I am Qi Xiaotian. First, we report on news regarding a plague leak in Russia. On October 2, a 28-year-old female laboratory technician at the Irkutsk Plague Research Institute in Russia died suddenly. The deceased was named Daria. Russian local media reported that around September 25, she may have broken a test tube while handling Yersinia pestis in the laboratory. On September 29, she was hospitalized with severe pneumonia and died three days later. Russian officials denied that a test tube was broken and also denied that a pathogen leak occurred at the laboratory. However, the subsequent actions taken by the Russian side do not look at all like they were dealing with ordinary pneumonia. The hospital was locked down, patients were temporarily forbidden from being discharged, and no new patients were admitted. Russia's top health official held an emergency meeting. The deceased's residence was disinfected multiple times, and nearly 200 contacts were quarantined or placed under medical observation. The question is: if it were just ordinary pneumonia, why take such large-scale epidemic prevention measures? The World Health Organization clearly does not accept this explanation and continues to demand that Russia answer three questions: First, what exactly caused this laboratory technician's severe pneumonia? Second, what pathogen prompted the local authorities to take such strict epidemic prevention measures? Third, is the media report about another laboratory employee suffering from pneumonia of unknown cause true or false?

When people hear about the plague, what first comes to mind is likely Europe's historical

Next, let's look at a typical example of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) gagging people. Recently, a tourist complained that the "24 Zigzags" anti-Japanese war road in Guizhou charges fees; the ticket is 60 yuan and the sightseeing bus is 50 yuan, totaling 110 yuan per person. In a video, he questioned that it is very unreasonable for the local government to fence off a public road and charge fees. Subsequently, a local official called the tourist. The tourist later posted a video saying he had made a mistake and accepted the criticism from the local government. In the video, the tourist's demeanor was noticeably uncomfortable compared to his previous video. Netizens told the tourist: "If you are being threatened, blink your eyes." In the CCP's China, passing through a toll station can feel like being robbed by bandits. On October 5, when a rider attempted to take his motorcycle onto an expressway at a toll station in Ningdu, Jiangxi, a toll station staff member holding a chainsaw intercepted him. During the confrontation, the staff member kept threateningly pointing the chainsaw at the rider's head. Netizens said: If a motorcycle violates any rules, it can be handled by the police; that is no reason for these people to use dangerous tools to intimidate others.

Following the Chinese men's national football team's crushing 0-5 defeat to Palestine, a former Chinese women's football player also came out to embarrass herself. Chen Yun, a former Jiangsu women's football player and football blogger, posted a video on Douyin recording a dispute with staff during the Asian Games in Japan. The cause was that after passing through security, she left her luggage next to the security checkpoint, and was subsequently asked by staff to remove it; the official Asian Games website had long announced restrictions on large items like large travel bags and stated that there were no luggage storage facilities inside the venue. In the video, she subjected the Japanese staff to nationalist-style verbal abuse. Netizens remarked: China no longer exports revolution; now China exports low-quality behavior. During this visit to the US, China invited 100,000 American teenagers to China for exchange and study. However, the CCP's nationalism and xenophobic propaganda have already turned China into a country that does not welcome foreigners. On October 6, a foreign netizen posted that while working as an English teacher in Jingzhou, Hubei, they had been refused service by four gyms. One gym's response to them was a bilingual notice in Chinese and English stating: "We are very sorry, this shop only serves Chinese citizens, thank you for your understanding!" The foreign netizen said: These experiences are making her consider ending her work in the area early. On October 1, a Japanese tourist posted that while dining at a restaurant in Xinjiang, the owner asked for his nationality. Upon learning he was Japanese, the owner shouted: "We don't cook for Japanese people! Get out!" A netizen said: I just advised another Japanese friend yesterday not to go to China; the radical nationalist sentiment is too strong. Now, China is only a thin layer of paper away from the ruling party model of Germany during World War II.

It used to be "study hard and make progress every day," but now it seems that whether one studies well is one thing, and whether one can actually make progress is another. On October 6, a netizen who graduated from Guizhou University of Finance and Economics posted: "Four years of undergraduate study for nothing, still ended up working as a general laborer in a factory." A netizen in the comments exclaimed: "Even graduates from a finance university have to work on an assembly line?" On September 13, a netizen posted on Douyin that they were a 2026 undergraduate graduate with 60,000 yuan in student loans, who had failed to find a job in Guangzhou for three months and eventually ended up working in a factory. They said helplessly: "What other choice is there besides working in a factory?" A netizen commented: Here is another terrifying fact: in provinces with high gaokao competition like Henan and Guangdong, being able to get into an undergraduate program already puts you ahead of 80% of your peers. Even people who have worked this hard can only end up like this. Another netizen pointed out: Working in a factory is not shameful; what is shameful is the hourly wage and working hours in this society. Some netizens discovered that the Mixue Bingcheng flagship store in Luoyang opened on October 1, with a first-day turnover exceeding 1 million yuan. The part-time employees hired worked through the night during the National Day holiday, but their hourly wage was only about 12 yuan. On October 4, a netizen shared yearbook data pointing out that the average monthly wage in Shandong Province had already reached 3,570 yuan in 2012. However, fourteen years later, many local netizens report that the current actual wage level remains at around 2,000 to 3,000 yuan, with wages even lower than they were ten years ago.

As the National Day holiday ended, the "oxen and horses" (slang for exploited workers) prepared to return to work, only to be stunned upon arriving at the office. On the 6th, a netizen posted a video stating that when they returned to work after the holiday, they found the boss had fled and the office had been cleared out. In the comments section, other workers mentioned that they had installed cameras at their own expense at their workstations and reported the situation to the police immediately to prevent their bosses from running away. Some Chinese people in better economic situations might see these videos and think: "At least it's not me." However, the ultimate result of employees being mistreated and exploited can be poor-quality products that threaten consumer safety. On October 4th, a BYD employee wrote the words "Run away quickly" on the yellow pillar of a car body being assembled. A netizen who works at a car factory commented: "Be cautious about buying cars produced from July to September; it might be the screws I tightened." Dear viewers, would you dare to drive a car that comes out of such a factory?

Next, we enter the "Foreign Media on China" segment. To maintain the 4.5% to 5% economic growth target personally deployed by Xi, the CCP is "prolonging the life" of exports by weakening the RMB and providing massive tax rebates; but the cost of doing so is ultimately paid by consumers and local finances. Today, exports have become the only engine of the Chinese economy, and the CCP is "riding a tiger and finding it hard to get off"; it dares not withdraw either of these two policies. The New York Times has reported on this. The report states: First, RMB depreciation. Today, the RMB has depreciated by more than 14% compared to 2022. The cheaper the RMB, the more competitive Chinese goods become when converted into US dollars. At the same time, China's trade surplus has nearly doubled. For export companies, this is certainly a good thing. But the other side of RMB depreciation is that it is more expensive for Chinese people to buy foreign goods. The costs of oil and other imported products will also rise. In other words, exporters get a price advantage, while part of the bill is borne by domestic consumers and businesses; and the economic state of Chinese households has been very sluggish in recent years. Second, tax rebates. The Chinese government refunds a portion of the taxes paid by export companies, further reducing their export costs. Last year, China's tax rebates to export companies reached 318.2 billion, equivalent to 1.5% of China's GDP. The problem is that this money ultimately comes from government finances. After the real estate collapse, many local governments were already short of money due to reduced land revenue, and now they have to provide huge funds to support exports. So this has created a very awkward situation: if the RMB is too strong, exports may be affected; if the RMB remains weak, it is more expensive for ordinary people to import goods. If export tax rebates are reduced, corporate competitiveness may decline; if large-scale tax rebates continue, government finances will continue to bleed. Exports are currently the last engine of the Chinese economy, so Beijing dares not move either side easily.

The situation in Guangzhou is why the CCP dares not touch exports. In Guangzhou, a major hub for garment exports, dozens of workers waited for hours at an open-air recruitment site, hoping someone would be willing to pay 300 to 400 yuan to hire them as sewing workers for a day. A worker surnamed Liu said: "Business has slowed down. It was slightly better in the first half of the year, but now it's really bad." A few years ago, when exports and domestic demand were strong, these day laborers could sometimes earn 600 to 700 yuan a day. Now, a sewing machine dealer says his business has dropped by at least a third, or even nearly half, compared to before. This is the export trap Beijing is currently facing: domestic demand is weak, so it relies on exports; to protect exports, it makes the domestic sector bear the costs; as the domestic sector bears more costs, people are even less willing to consume; the weaker the consumption, the more it needs exports. Originally, exports should have been one leg of economic growth. Now, the Chinese economy is increasingly like someone clutching this leg and not daring to let go. The 5% economic growth target can be propped up by exports, but the RMB, government finances, and the wallets of ordinary people are all cushioning it from below. Today, this export train is moving too fast, and Beijing no longer dares to step on the brakes.

Polls are generally not seen in China, and it is impossible to check how Chinese people view this summit from either inside or outside the Great Firewall. However, a journalist from Foreign Policy magazine interviewed Chinese people from different regions and social classes, and was surprised to find that many Chinese people actually did not even know about the Trump-Xi meeting. The report stated: Xi Jinping visited the United States from September 22 to 25, and Beijing only made the official announcement on September 21, just two days before departure. On September 22, the day before Xi Jinping's departure, a Foreign Policy reporter interviewed a dozen Chinese people from different backgrounds, including overseas students and professionals, domestic workers inside the system, private enterprise employees, and elderly people. The results showed a stark contrast. Overseas Chinese students and professionals usually knew the earliest because they watched foreign media or engaged in private chats. Some domestic workers inside the system only knew after the official announcement. They explained that the schedule of China's top leader is usually only made public at the last minute. But more interestingly, some domestic enterprise employees interviewed by the reporter were still completely unaware of the event even though the official announcement of Xi Jinping's visit to the U.S. had already been made. To investigate "how ordinary Chinese people view the meeting," the first step might not even be asking whether they support it or not, but rather asking first: Do you know that the General Secretary has gone to the United States?

Next, let's look at a few absurd videos. Formalism in China is becoming increasingly absurd. In the following video, a Little Pink netizen makes a class of intellectually disabled people line up to answer questions about the propaganda content of the Chinese Communist Party. A netizen sighed: Speechless, nationwide brainwashing, even the disabled are not spared. Speaking of nationwide brainwashing, a reporter below interviewed primary school students born after 2015 on "how they evaluate the United States." A netizen said: I feel that current teachers are also very miserable; they all need to deceive students. At the end of the show, we enter the netizen interaction segment. Rob commented on the female spy monitoring Lai Ching-te's son, saying: The Chinese bandits treat the United States like their own home, daring to monitor anyone. Zizai commented on staying up all night to watch the flag-raising ceremony, saying: More than 20 years ago, I went to Beijing for a meeting, and just wanted to take pictures at Tiananmen at night and was stopped; it turns out that mainland China's lack of self-confidence is so "powerful" and extremely fragile. Someone said: I really don't hate this land, but I deeply hate the bottom-feeder people on this land who think they are superior human beings! Today's US Trending Search ends here, thank you all for watching. Dear audience friends,

If you like our program, please help like and subscribe,

so we can spread these voices outside the Great Firewall even further.

In addition, friends who want to further support our channel

can consider joining the membership of China-US Benchmarking.

See you next time, be there or be square.