Anti-gay banner at Wuhan university

On April 16, a photo of two women holding up a blatant anti-gay banner appeared on social media accounts (in Chinese) of students at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, in the central Chinese province of Hubei. The banner reads, “Maintain the traditional values of the Chinese nation, defend the core values of socialism, resist the corruption of decadent Western ideas, keep homosexuality far away from the university campus.” The photos have sparked an escalating backlash from China’s LGBTQ community and the general public. On the social media platform Weibo, one internet user wrote (in Chinese), “Why would someone who has received a college education say ignorant things like this?”

Toilet paper thieves strike Chengdu park

In March, reports emerged of facial recognition being tested in the public toilets of a Beijing park to deter the elderly thieves who were taking away large quantities of toilet paper. On April 16, Chengdu Evening News reported (in Chinese) that a “toilet revolution” announced by the city on April 1, which was intended to ensure that public toilets at a city park are equipped with hand sanitizer and ample toilet paper, has fallen victim to thieves, who removed 1,500 rolls of toilet paper in just seven days. Many of the comments (in Chinese) about the news on the social media platform Weibo repeat a common Chinese complaint about the low “quality” (素质 sùzhì) of the citizenry.

• Director of China’s ‘Journey to the West,’ Yang Jie, dies aged 88 / SCMP
  “In China’s 30 years of TV production, few…match the influence of Yang’s adaptation of the 16th-century novel.”
• The silent majority and the great majority / China Heritage
  “Here we remember and commemorate the work of Wang Xiaobo 王小波, a writer of prose and fiction who died twenty years ago. In a celebrated essay titled ‘The Silent Majority’ 沉默的大多数 (chénmò de dà duōshù), Wang wrote about what he called the yin and yang of public expression in China, or the World of Silence and the World of Speech.”
• China box office: ‘Furious 8’ paves new roads / China Film Insider
• Shanghai sizzles in 120-year high heat / China Daily
• LOOK: 88-meter-tall Goddess of Beauty statue being built in Guizhou / Shanghaiist
• Hong Kong hikers warned as death toll exceeds 2016 total in just four months / SCMP
• VistaJet now lets clients book private jets on WeChat / Jing Daily
• Nine Chinese photographers you need to follow / TIME
• Over 900,000 foreigners work in Chinese mainland in 2016 / China Daily