[US Trending] Hello Kitty also hit by the political iron fist | Red female spy exposed, how suspicious is Jensen Huang? | 376 attendees at the Fifth Plenary Session reduced to 279 | Diesel shortage across China, money can't buy fuel | Employees demand unpaid wages and social security, met by SWAT police at government gates | School cuts water and power but refuses to release students

The main content of this episode includes: Hello Kitty being boycotted by Chinese state media and netizens due to its collaboration with the Japanese drama 'VIVANT'; a significant reduction in the number of attendees at the CCP's Fifth Plenary Session, with multiple high-ranking officials being disciplined; diesel shortages breaking out in various parts of China, with fuel supplies restricted; employees of the Liaoning Zhongjian Magnesium Brick Company going to the municipal government to demand unpaid wages and social security, only to be met by SWAT police; a middle school in Guangdong facing water and power outages and refusing to let students leave, leading them to climb over the walls; and hot topics such as the appearance of an alleged Chinese female spy named Huang Le near NVIDIA founder Jensen Huang.

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'American Hot Search' lets you hear the voices from outside the Great Firewall. Hello, dear audience, welcome to today's 'American Hot Search', I am Qi Xiaotian. First, let's enter the daily news segment. The patriotic masses are overwhelmed with things to hate, and this time, Hello Kitty has also encountered the iron fist of 'positive energy' netizens. Recently, if you want to make money in the Chinese market, it seems that having a good product is not enough; your spokespeople, partners, and even cartoon characters must first pass a political review. The one in trouble this time is the popular Japanese TBS spy drama 'VIVANT'. The drama features a secret Chinese intelligence organization capturing Japanese intelligence officers and includes scenes of torture. On October 24, Chinese state media began reporting on the drama collectively, accusing 'VIVANT' of deliberately smearing China, arguing that it grafted the torture methods once used by the invading Japanese army onto modern Chinese people, while portraying Japanese Self-Defense Force intelligence officers as the righteous side. After the reports were issued, public opinion fermented rapidly, with one netizen sarcastically remarking: 'So it's okay for us to have anti-Japanese propaganda dramas, but we can't allow others to have anti-China propaganda dramas?'

The fire surrounding 'VIVANT' also began to spread from the drama to its business partner, Hello Kitty. On October 28, the 'Global Times' published an article titled 'Hello Kitty Should Not Dance with the Japanese Right Wing'. It turns out that 'VIVANT' had previously launched co-branded merchandise with the Japanese company Sanrio, where cartoon characters like Hello Kitty, Cinnamoroll, and My Melody were designed in the style of the intelligence officers from the show. Eventually, a large number of Chinese state media accounts began to follow up, shifting their focus from the drama's plot to Sanrio, the company selling Hello Kitty. However, the Japanese TBS television station, which produced 'VIVANT', chose not to apologize. On October 28, TBS President Takashi Ryuhou responded at a regular press conference, stating that 'VIVANT' is a completely fictional work of entertainment and has no intention of being hostile toward or disparaging any country. Regarding the torture scenes in the drama, he stated that these scenes were produced based on the necessity of the plot, and while they could continue to review whether they caused discomfort to the audience, he did not apologize for the accusations made by Chinese state media.

However, just a few hours later, Sanrio could no longer hold out. Around 11 PM on October 28, Sanrio Shanghai issued a statement announcing the official termination of its co-branding partnership with "VIVANT", as well as all subsequent projects and promotional activities, and expressed deep apologies for the concerns caused to everyone. But for a certain insatiable organization, the matter was not yet over. On October 29, the Beijing Daily published another commentary, arguing that Sanrio's statement was only released in the Chinese market as a targeted apology, which still lacked sincerity. Subsequently, Sanrio released another statement on the official website of its Japanese headquarters, officially announcing the termination of subsequent projects and promotional activities for the co-branding partnership with "VIVANT". On the same day, this matter also made it into the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs regular press conference, where Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun criticized "VIVANT" for using cultural products to uglify and smear China, spreading anti-China sentiment, and stated that it should arouse the vigilance of the international community. From a TV drama to Hello Kitty, and then to a Japanese enterprise forced to terminate its cooperation, this incident once again exposed the political risks of the Chinese market. Foreign enterprises wanting to make money from the Chinese people must not only manage their own products well, but also manage their partners, and even what cartoon characters can say and film, which is effectively using market leverage to exert cross-border political pressure. For foreign enterprises, the political risks of the Chinese market will probably become increasingly difficult to ignore.

The Fifth Plenary Session of the CCP Central Committee officially concluded on October 29, but what caught the most attention was not any new economic policies, but the nearly one-quarter of people missing from the venue. Four years ago, 376 members and alternate members of the Central Committee were elected, but this time only 279 attended, and the Central Military Commission, which originally had seven members, still only has two left. According to BBC reports, a total of 162 members and 117 alternate members of the Central Committee attended the Fifth Plenary Session that concluded on October 29, which was thirty-six fewer than last year's Fourth Plenary Session. This meeting also confirmed the disciplinary decision to expel thirty-three high-ranking officials from the Party, including Ma Xingrui, Zhang Youxia, Liu Zhenli, and Liu Jianchao, while Li Yunze was stripped of his intra-Party posts. The most important personnel change this time was the 68-year-old Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Zhang Shengmin, being additionally elected as a member of the Political Bureau of the CCP Central Committee. Aside from the General Secretary, Zhang Shengmin is the final remaining member from the original seven-member Central Military Commission. However, this plenary session did not announce any additions of other members to the Central Military Commission. The meeting also decided that the 21st National Congress of the CCP will be held in the second half of 2027, by which time the General Secretary is expected to seek a fourth term. However, Bloomberg noted that Xi Jinping's continuous purge of high-ranking officials has also created a dilemma for himself: next year will require a large-scale replacement of the leadership team, but the pool of candidates who are both trustworthy and possess sufficient experience is dwindling. Meanwhile, the core document passed by the Fifth Plenary Session remains further strengthening the so-called comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, emphasizing the study and implementation of Xi Jinping's ideology on Party building. This means that as the leadership transition next year draws closer, the political discipline and review pressure faced by CCP officials are growing increasingly heavier. Xi Jinping continuously emphasizes building a loyal, reliable, and capable cadre team, but after purging for so many years and with the leadership transition happening next year, the problem by then will likely no longer be who is unreliable, but how many people are left who can actually be used.

Next, we enter the Mobile Phone Views China segment. Chinese netizens have long discovered that some impounded motorcycles and electric bicycles end up being resold to Africa. Nowadays, some young people have decided they would rather smash their vehicles than let law enforcement officers take them away to sell for money. On October 29, two teenagers in Guangxi entered a local police station holding hammers and iron bars, and proceeded to smash an impounded motorcycle. Netizens said they did the right thing: rather smash it than let those bandits sell it out. One netizen said heroes emerge from youth since ancient times, future Huang Chaos and Li Zichengs.

Some schools in China care most not about the quality of education, nor about the health and safety of students, but about how to keep students under control; even if the school suffers from water and power outages, they will not let the students go home. On the evening of October 29, because of a power supply equipment failure at Longchuan Experimental Middle School in Longshan County, Guangdong, the school suffered a power and water outage lasting several hours, leaving students unable to study and live normally, prompting them to successively demand to leave school and go home. However, the school's electric gate malfunctioned, and school authorities were unwilling to let them pass, causing a large crowd of students to gather at the school gate collectively shouting "Go home!" Yet after shouting for a long time, they still couldn't get out, and eventually some students simply scaled the wall to leave the school, during which some students kicked the school secretary and principal who tried to block them. Netizens joked: even a prison with water and power outages wouldn't refuse to let you out.

On October 29, CCTV reported two news stories about soaring oil prices in the United States. However, while American oil is indeed expensive, some regions in China are experiencing a diesel shortage where people cannot buy diesel even if they have the money. China's retail refined oil prices have long been subject to government control. On October 29, the National Development and Reform Commission announced a policy to limit the latest round of oil price hikes. According to the original mechanism, diesel should have increased by ¥420 per ton, but fearing that oil prices would rise too sharply, the NDRC deliberately reduced the diesel price hike by ¥85 per ton, allowing only an increase of ¥335. The problem is that recently, wholesale diesel prices have risen close to the retail price limit, and the purchase cost for some gas stations even exceeds the selling price, meaning they lose money on every liter sold. Therefore, under price restrictions and tight supply, many gas stations have simply started rationing supply or even suspending diesel sales, creating a diesel shortage. Adding insult to injury to China's diesel shortage is the fact that China's diesel supply is indeed tight. According to domestic industry media reports, PetroChina and Sinopec are controlling wholesale shipments; Bloomberg reported that Chinese state-owned refineries' diesel inventories are at their lowest in nearly four years. One of the underlying reasons is that the Iran war has driven up international oil prices. However, although Beijing has tightened refined oil exports, Bloomberg reported that China's diesel exports in September were actually the highest in recent years. Reuters also reported that on October 28, China issued another quota of about 4 million tons of refined oil exports, turning the diesel shortage into a phenomenon where domestic rationing continues alongside ongoing exports. Coupled with the rising demand for diesel for the autumn harvest and construction site rushes in northern China, the diesel shortage is unlikely to ease in the short term. Recently, multiple videos appeared online showing limited diesel supplies, with some gas stations even stipulating that heavy trucks can only refuel up to ¥300 at a time. On-site videos showed multiple trucks waiting in line for fuel at night. On October 29, rumors circulated online that a diesel shortage had erupted in places like Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, Hubei, Yunnan, and Shenzhen across the country, with a large number of gas stations successively announcing temporary rationing or even suspension of diesel sales. On the same day, at a gas station in Bayan County, Harbin, Heilongjiang, multiple truck drivers allegedly clashed over fuel quotas due to tight diesel supplies. On the same day, online reports successively emerged of diesel supply problems in Guangzhou, Guangxi, and Zhejiang. It seems this diesel shortage is no longer just an issue in isolated northern regions. CCTV is busy reporting on soaring US oil prices, but drivers in some parts of China now care most about whether they can get fuel at all, rather than how expensive diesel is. Netizens complained: oil prices out of control, stock market plummeting, people struggling to survive, all industries withering, far ahead.

The Chinese Communist Party is using big data to hunt down ordinary citizens who haven't paid their social insurance one by one, mobilizing them to enroll. But when citizens go to the government to seek justice because their companies haven't paid social insurance for a long time, what awaits them is a large force of police and SWAT police. On October 28, in Dashiqiao City, Yingkou, Liaoning, a large number of employees from China State Construction Magnesite Brick Co., Ltd. gathered in front of the local municipal government building, demanding the company pay back unpaid wages and make up for social insurance contributions. According to employee posts online, the company has owed wages for up to fifteen months, and social insurance has been cut off for nineteen months. On-site videos show a large crowd of employees gathered in the plaza in front of the municipal government, while the local authorities deployed a large number of police and SWAT officers to line up in formation for defense. Netizens complained that when ordinary citizens don't pay social insurance, the government can use big data to track them down, but when companies don't pay social insurance for employees and citizens go to the government, the iron fist of the police is what awaits them.

Faced with young people's growing anxiety about whether they will be able to collect pensions in the future, the official media People's Daily published an article on Weibo on October 29, criticizing claims online that young people can no longer afford to support the elderly and that the pension system is on the verge of collapse, arguing that such remarks are inciting confrontation and manufacturing anxiety. The article also stated that there is still no precedent for the bankruptcy of a public pension system in the world, so everyone does not need to worry too much. The article's comment section was set to blogger selection, and netizens complained: does the absence of bankruptcy precedents in the past mean there will definitely be no problems in the future? What divine logic, if you have the ability, open the comment section.

To urge young people to have children, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is handing out birth subsidies and setting up marriage registration points in parks and scenic spots, trying every possible way to encourage marriage and childbirth. But why are young people unwilling to have children? Perhaps looking at this father of two will make it clear. Recently, a man posted a video documenting his working life. He only got off work at 4:31 AM, but his alarm was set for 5:35 AM, meaning he only left himself a little over an hour to rest. After a short break, he had to go out again to do piecework sorting and packaging cilantro. The man explained that he works so hard because he has two children to raise at home and does not want his wife to be too exhausted. For a father to support two children, even getting a normal night's sleep has become a luxury. The government is busy encouraging young people to have children, but for some families who have already had children, the most realistic problem right now is how to raise them. If the government cannot solve this problem, they can forget about achieving the political performance of increasing the birth rate.

Next, we enter the 'Foreign Media on China' segment. There might actually be a Chinese female spy in the inner circle of NVIDIA founder Jensen Huang. This Chinese businesswoman is not only close to Jensen Huang but has also been identified by US intelligence agencies as passing intelligence to Beijing. The New York Times reported that US intelligence agencies discovered through electronic surveillance that a Chinese businesswoman named Huang Le, with the English name Alice Huang, is providing intelligence to Beijing. Huang Le was once an executive at the Singaporean data center company Megaspeed. The US government was already investigating this company, suspecting it of helping China circumvent export controls to obtain NVIDIA's advanced artificial intelligence chips. However, during the investigation, intelligence officers discovered a more sensitive situation: Huang Le has close ties to NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. The relationship between the two is not entirely without public traces. In June 2024, after a tech exhibition in Taipei, Jensen Huang and Huang Le were photographed drinking at a bar with other AI industry executives. In May 2025, the two appeared again at a business dinner in Taipei. After the dinner, Huang Le was even seen standing behind Jensen Huang while he was being interviewed by Taiwanese media. The New York Times pointed out that Huang Le had also previously posted photos of herself with Jensen Huang on social media. Tech investors familiar with Megaspeed revealed that Huang Le and her business partners often boasted about her relationship with Jensen Huang and used these connections to attract investment and promote their data center business.

Another photo released by World Journal on October 30 shows that on the evening of May 22, 2025, while Jensen Huang was hosting a banquet at the San Liu Shi Fu restaurant in Taipei, Huang Le, wearing a pink sleeveless dress, was seen with her arm around Huang's shoulder, talking to him; the two appeared to have a close relationship. Who exactly is Huang Le? According to reports, she is a Chinese businesswoman and investor who previously worked at several large Chinese banks before joining Shanghai's Hexi Capital to invest in semiconductor and artificial intelligence-related enterprises. She once claimed to be the CEO of Megaspeed and briefly appeared in the company's director registration records. The U.S. Department of Commerce began investigating Megaspeed at the end of 2024. At that time, a U.S. Department of Commerce official visited the company's data center in Malaysia and found that a large amount of Nvidia equipment was still in boxes and had not been installed or used, leading to suspicions that these devices might be in the process of being transshipped. According to trade records, between June 2024 and February 2026, Megaspeed's affiliate in Malaysia purchased at least $4.8 billion worth of advanced artificial intelligence equipment, including Nvidia chips and technology. U.S. investigators suspect that some of these chips may have been illegally shipped to China, and the most sensitive question is: what exactly did Huang Le obtain from Jensen Huang? The New York Times pointed out that Jensen Huang not only controls Nvidia's business strategy but also has a close relationship with Trump and has lobbied the White House multiple times to relax chip export restrictions on China. U.S. intelligence officials are therefore concerned that Huang Le may have learned about Nvidia's internal movements, or even the Trump administration's thoughts on China's chip policy, through her contact with Jensen Huang. However, the report also clearly states that it is currently unclear what information Huang Le actually passed on to Beijing, and there is no evidence that Jensen Huang voluntarily provided her with confidential information. When U.S. officials first briefed Trump, they did not believe Jensen Huang knew that Huang Le was suspected of collecting intelligence for China. But The New York Times revealed that after hearing the briefing, Trump took no action. To this day, Jensen Huang has not received the security warnings that U.S. intelligence agencies typically provide to potential targets of espionage. The report noted that Trump did not want to further complicate U.S.-China trade relations. However, the government's failure to notify Jensen Huang might also have been to avoid alerting Huang Le, who was under surveillance. Regarding these allegations, Nvidia stated that Jensen Huang meets with thousands of client executives every year and that his business dealings with Huang Le were not unusual. The company emphasized that clients only receive general business information and do not have access to Nvidia's sensitive trade secrets or information involving U.S. national security. The Chinese Embassy in the United States denied the U.S. allegations, claiming that the U.S. is conducting groundless smears against China. The U.S. is strictly guarding against the flow of advanced chips into China, yet it has discovered that someone suspected of collecting intelligence for Beijing has already reached the side of Nvidia's boss. Export controls can be placed on chips, but personal connections are not so easy to guard against. The U.S. is guarding against China taking the chips, but now it seems it must also guard against Beijing getting close to the people who sell the chips.

At the end of the program, we enter the netizen interaction segment. Sun minmin commented on the Mbappe meme, saying: I am Chinese, but Mbappe telling the truth did not hurt me, so he does not need to apologize. Jiu Ting Yin Yue said, if a person is beautiful and you say they are ugly, they won't care; if they are truly ugly and you say they are ugly, then that is a big deal. Liu Si said, anyway, one will eventually insult the CCP, so it is better to insult it sooner rather than later. Today's U.S. trending topics end here, thank you all for watching. New viewers and friends,

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