[US Trending] Wall Street Journal: Xi Jinping is a drunkard, and Qin Gang is his drinking buddy | The General Secretary hasn't arrived, and the two factions of Chinese in Flushing have already clashed | Shen Dong reveals new info on the Linggu car accident | New anti-corruption business: teaching you how to deal with the Discipline Inspection Commission | National Day 7-day holiday, hand over the weekend first |
This episode covers several hot topics: Flushing Chinese residents protest and clash due to Xi Jinping's visit to the US; netizens complain about China's work-hour adjustment system, with amusing anecdotes from Wenzhou official media about alarm clocks; rumors of a large-scale crackdown on electric bikes in Changsha and the speculation it has caused; the chaos of obedience education and various fee-related issues appearing in schools at the start of the semester; the difficult lives of ordinary people being praised by state media, and instances of formalism; The Wall Street Journal reports on Xi Jinping's absence from a banquet and rumors about his health; a review of the awkward behind-the-scenes details of Hu Jintao's visit to the US; South China Morning Post reports that Chinese officials are seeking "Discipline Inspection Response Training"; Shen Dong reveals insider details about the Ling Gu car accident and its political background.
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America Hot Search lets you hear the voices from outside the Great Firewall. Hello everyone, and welcome to today's America Hot Search. I'm Qi Xiaotian. There are still 3 days until the General Secretary's visit to the US; however, before the main character even arrives, a scene of overseas “pinkie” fighting with protesting citizens has already unfolded on the streets of America. On September 20th, multiple pro-CCP Chinese gatherings and parades were held in Flushing, Queens, New York. Members of various hometown associations, wearing unified clothing, took to the streets holding banners and Chinese and American flags. The stated purpose of this event was to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, but exclusive reporting by media personality Aric Chen revealed that this event was actually to welcome the General Secretary's visit to the US, with an estimated total budget of $500,000. The parade procession then encountered dissidents protesting the General Secretary's visit; the two sides shouted at each other across the street. A “pinkie” elderly woman was loudly praising the CCP on the street, when a protester asked her why she ran to America. She was instantly embarrassed and unable to answer. Subsequently, the conflict escalated. A pro-CCP individual suddenly charged at a democracy activist, began kicking him, and snatched a banner. However, while one can bully others under the banner of “patriotism” in China, it doesn't work in a country governed by law. The police intervened and arrested the “pinkie” man. Finally, the protest group carried a coffin inscribed with “Funeral of the CCP” and continued to march through the streets of Flushing. There were also posts claiming that before the protest against the General Secretary's visit was held in Flushing, there was a threat of an explosive device. Therefore, the police were deployed to provide full security for the protesters. On the 24th, during the Trump-Xi meeting, these pro-CCP and anti-CCP individuals are bound to collide on the route the General Secretary will take.
Our channel's Yaoyao Jiang will be live on site bringing you the broadcast at that time.
Welcome everyone, the National Day seven‑day holiday is approaching. However, this is not an extra seven days out of thin air, but a rearranged schedule that exhausts people, combined with promotional activities that try to make everyone spend money. On September 19, “Rescheduling isn’t for rest, it’s to boost consumption” topped the Weibo hot search. Netizens complained: “They want you to create GDP and also spend the money you earn, but they don’t want to give you more days off. The two‑day weekend and paid leave haven’t been implemented, and adding rescheduled days makes people even more fatigued. If the authorities can’t solve the rescheduling issue, they’ll just target the people who raise it.” On September 20, “Rescheduling and resisting consumption” also hit the Weibo hot search, then was censored. The related search page showed: “According to relevant laws, regulations and policies, this topic cannot be displayed.” More satirically, on September 15, a Wenzhou official media video claimed Apple’s alarm clock finally supports a “rescheduling” function. Netizens joked: Apple waited for decades, didn’t see China cancel rescheduling, so it had to learn to cooperate itself. In other countries, holidays are for rest, but in the CCP’s China, holidays are not holidays; they are used to bundle your weekends into promotional sales through rescheduling.
An absurd phenomenon in China is that you can buy an electric bike, but you can’t ride it on the street. Changsha recently began a large‑scale crackdown on electric bikes, allegedly triggered by a delivery rider colliding with the deputy secretary of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee. On September 17, Changsha launched a safety risk governance campaign for electric bicycles. Unregistered bikes, cloned plates, riders without helmets, and illegal passenger transport will be strictly inspected; delivery platforms must also adjust their dispatch algorithms. Some officials were even enforcing the rules on the streets at 4 a.m., a spectacular scene. So far, the “official was hit by a delivery rider” claim has not been verified. Official reports have not mentioned any official, nor responded to the rumor. What is truly unsettling is not who was hit, but that ordinary people can only guess why policies suddenly accelerate. Viewers, do you think the provincial party secretary was actually hit? Please leave a comment.
When the new school term starts, Chinese students find that schools care less about academic knowledge and more about how education serves obedience. On September 19, at Wancheng Primary School in Wanning, Hainan, students collectively demonstrated the “five classroom routine items” to the “lead teachers,” with movements and commands perfectly synchronized, comparable to North Korea. The video was later taken down. On September 20, Hebei Software Vocational College held military training where students crawled and knelt amid colored smoke on a massive scale. Netizens joked: “What’s the first line of the national anthem again…?” Hong Kong students are also being infiltrated by the CCP’s obedience education. On the morning of September 20, about 1,000 Hong Kong and Macau students went to Tiananmen Square in Beijing for a “salute to the national flag” event; as they left, they sang “Ode to the Motherland” in unison. A Hong Kong netizen said: “Taiwanese, take note, we can only demonstrate this once.”
Chinese students, besides obedience training, are also being consumed. Xishan Senior High School in Wuxi, Jiangsu, required students to purchase a “smart device kit”: essentially a tablet that can only be used for three years, priced at 4,280 CNY, clearly higher than comparable market tablets. Daqian County’s Hongtu Middle School organized students to attend a “social practice base” training, charging 288 CNY per semester from third grade through senior year. The activity officially cannot be taken leave from; any leave requires approval from the homeroom teacher, grade director, and the principal. Netizens said: “Old leeks have sprouted new leeks, this is a lifelong thing.” Even more absurd, some schools have introduced “selling blood for extra holidays.” On September 20, several netizens posted a group notice from Liaoning Normal University: participants who donate blood can submit a screenshot to apply for linking the Mid‑Autumn and National Day holidays, extending the break up to 13 days; those who don’t donate will attend classes as usual. A Twitter user lamented that at least it’s not forced blood donation yet, but who knows what the future holds.
Chinese children going to school has instead become a vulnerability for parents, exploited by schools. A primary school in Leshan, Sichuan, required parents to participate in a school security patrol, but the shift times conflicted with their work hours, burdening dual-income families. Some parents had no choice but to ask grandparents to fill in, while others paid people to take their place. After rectification, one day, all four security personnel on duty were grandparents, the oldest being 67. A middle school in Taiyuan, Shanxi, also saw the emergence of a "parental standing guard group." Netizens complained: "When even the normal commute to and from school requires the entire population to provide an escort, how dare they constantly promote 'full sense of security'?" From queuing, crawling, donating blood, to buying tablets, paying training fees, and standing guard for the school: this is not the start of a school term, but rather pulling students and parents together into a "fee-based and obedience-driven" assembly line.
To what extent will China's bottom-tier laborers push themselves to survive? A female worker operates a machine in a textile workshop, with an infant strapped to her back. Netizens pointed out that the machine noise is generally loud, and the air may also contain fine cotton fibers. Everyone should wear a mask, especially infants. In the video below, a woman is seen picking up trash on the street with her child on her back late at night. Despite the hardships of China's underclass, the CCP still glorifies their suffering. In Henan, a 47-year-old man paralyzed by illness has been living on a cart for 30 years. Without social security, he relies on raising geese to support himself and his parents. However, the promotional text of the video calls him a role model of "self-reliance and independence." Party media's "Xiangmu Video" recently promoted a mother who lost both hands and can only sew shoe insoles with her mouth to support herself and her daughter as "positive energy." However, the real question is: why must a disabled mother sew shoe insoles with her mouth to raise her child? On September 17th, a delivery rider in Jiangsu fell asleep at a traffic light intersection while delivering food at 2 AM. Netizens commented on the CCP's glorification of suffering: "This is a national disgrace, and they still have the nerve to brag about it."
A prominent issue within the CCP's bureaucratic system is its greater emphasis on whether paper achievements satisfy superiors, rather than whether tasks are truly implemented or problems are genuinely resolved. Recently, a citizen found an injured national protected animal, a mountain dove, and notified the relevant departments to take it for treatment; however, no one from the authorities came. A few days later, he received a follow-up call from the department, stating: the bird had been picked up and had died due to severe injuries. The problem is, no one had come, and the bird was still alive under the netizen's care. The netizen complained: "This is consistent with the usual practice of CCP departments: they just close the work order, without truly solving the problem. China's formalism is becoming increasingly absurd." On September 18th, the anniversary of the September 18th Incident, an official media outlet in Zhumadian, Henan, released a video claiming that when the air raid siren sounded, electric bike riders on the road "spontaneously dismounted to observe a moment of silence." In the video, the mourners completely blocked the traffic behind them. Netizens quipped: "Riding without a helmet, and then getting a ticket at the next intersection after the moment of silence." Another netizen asked: "Will the people of Henan observe a moment of silence for the victims of the Banqiao Reservoir?"
Now, let's move to the "Foreign Media Looks at China" segment. The General Secretary's absence from a banquet at the BRICS summit in India immediately sparked global discussions about his health. The Wall Street Journal reported that on the 12th, during his attendance at the BRICS summit in India, the General Secretary temporarily canceled a leaders' dinner he had previously agreed to attend. Sources familiar with the matter stated that the reason was indisposition, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended in his stead. The 73-year-old General Secretary is scheduled to visit the United States in a few days. Due to the long-term lack of public disclosure of leaders' health information by the CCP's top echelons, coupled with the absence of a clear successor, this absence quickly triggered external speculation about his health and the succession issue. The Chinese authorities have not explained why he was absent, nor have they responded to related rumors. Dennis Wilder, a former senior China affairs analyst at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, stated that the General Secretary has a long history of smoking, is overweight, dislikes exercise, and also enjoys drinking. Wilder also revealed that former Foreign Minister Qin Gang had told him that the General Secretary "likes to drink," and they often drank Maotai together on long-haul flights, which brought them closer. If the leader of a normal country misses a banquet, the authorities will provide an explanation; however, the absence of a CCP leader from a banquet has become a global medical consultation.
At this stage, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s internet censorship has become tighter. A netizen left a comment under a video titled “Illnesses Seniors Should Pay Attention To,” saying only one line: “Heard it’s a mild stroke.” As a result, his account was restricted from commenting and the related video was cleared. The netizen said: “Mild stroke” became a sensitive term, so this is a classic case of trying to hide something that is actually true. What do you, the audience, think?
A Chinese national leader’s visit to the United States is a top‑level event in Chinese diplomacy, and every detail is rehearsed repeatedly with the U.S. side; the party media can only show the final perfect shots. However, a former White House official recently revealed some awkward backstage scenes during Hu Jintao’s visit to the United States. Former White House National Security Council Asia affairs head Dennis Wilder recalled: In 2006, George W. Bush invited Hu Jintao to the U.S. The Chinese side hoped for a formal state visit, but the White House only classified the event as a “formal visit” and arranged a lunch instead of a state banquet; the level of protocol dissatisfied the Chinese side. After the welcome ceremony began, the White House emcee mistakenly referred to the Chinese national anthem as the “Republic of China anthem,” i.e., Taiwan’s official anthem. Then, a protester in the audience suddenly shouted loudly for about three minutes. Hu Jintao was momentarily stunned, and Bush had to comfort him: “You’re fine.” When Hu stepped down, he went the wrong way, and Bush pulled his coat to guide him back to the correct staircase. Hu Jintao’s 2006 U.S. visit was filled with such awkward details. This time Xi’s visit to the U.S., under the watchful lenses of countless phones, may also produce some embarrassing moments—let’s wait and see.
Xi’s anti‑corruption storm is getting stronger; some people rush to show loyalty, while others enroll in a “What to Do When the Discipline Inspection Commission Comes” training course. The South China Morning Post reported that as anti‑corruption investigations continue, some Chinese lawyers have begun offering paid consultations to nervous entrepreneurs, officials, and their families. It is said that some hear they are being targeted, some receive calls from discipline inspection personnel requesting cooperation, and some only find a lawyer after a relative is detained. Lawyers teach: which behaviors may constitute crimes, which do not; how to understand self‑surrender and confession provisions; what to say and what documents to keep when facing an investigation. The reasons are practical. After being detained by discipline inspection and supervision organs, a person may be unable to meet a lawyer for months, and families find it hard to get information. Official data show that in the first half of 2026, national discipline inspection and supervision organs punished over 410,000 people, and opened about 20,000 bribery cases. Netizens have said that the CCP bureaucracy has no “clean officials,” only corrupt ones. Now, faced with the anti‑corruption wave, officials can only seek a “survival guide for being investigated,” creating a market for such training. People ask: in such a pervasive corrupt bureaucracy, how can anti‑corruption be effective?
Recently, Shen Dong, author of “Red Betting Board” and acquaintance of Ling Gu, posted a long article exposing, for the first time, some behind‑the‑scenes information about Ling Gu. Ling Gu is the only son of Ling Jihua; Ling Jihua formerly served as Director of the CCP Central Committee General Office and Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. In 2012, Ling Gu died in a Ferrari crash in Beijing. Shen Dong said: about a week before the accident, the two had a final dinner; after the meal, Ling Gu invited him to see a new Ferrari “arranged” by a friend. Shen Dong suspects that was the car that later crashed. Shen Dong added: although Ling Gu was only in his twenties, he had already begun building his own political faction through an organization. This sounds a bit like Lin Liguo. Shen Dong believes the crash disrupted Hu Jintao’s power layout, clearing two obstacles for Xi’s full takeover. This is not just an anonymous rumor, but a piece of explosive information publicly signed by someone who entered the Ling family circle. Which parts are his personal experience, which are hearsay, and which can be verified against old reports? Today, Yaoyao Jiang will add another episode to analyze this explosive material for everyone; the program will be released at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time, welcome to watch.
Next, let's look at a few absurd videos. With the economy declining, the worst off are still the bottom class; in China today, even picking up trash has become a fiercely competitive industry. These two elderly people picking up trash fought fiercely over a plastic bottle. Netizens said: This is the Chinese Dream in the General Secretary's eyes, the bottom class harming each other while the upper class enjoys blessings. The commentator below analyzes why China cannot be a developed country. Netizens said: He is exposing the inside story and telling people the truth, which actually constitutes the crime of 'mountain peak offense'. At the end of the program, we move to the viewer interaction segment. Sun minmin commented on Sulfur Bamboo Shoots: The food safety left for Chinese people is not just little, it's none. Tian Ye said: A country that cannot even manage food safety is flexing its muscles internationally every day. To normal people, this is crazy. Ma Yuan commented on the CCP-affiliated domestic AI: If true words are not allowed to be spoken, how can China's AI surpass American AI? What a joke. That's all for today's US Hot Search. Thank you for watching.
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