A Taiwanese man died of suspected lead poisoning after using the same rusty thermos for over ten years, despite visible signs of metal degradation.

Taiwanese media recently reported the tragic death of a man whose severe lung infection was exacerbated by heavy metal poisoning. The man reportedly started experiencing health problems about a year ago, and blood tests showed that he was suffering from heavy metal poisoning. While trying to discover the source of the contamination, doctors learned that the man had been using the same thermos on a daily basis for the last 10 years. Upon examining the container, they discovered rust had formed inside of it, which hadn’t prevented the patient from using it to store acidic beverages like coffee, tea, and juice. Read More »

Wei Dongyi, one of China’s most famous mathematicians, recently went viral for his unkempt looks and extremely frugal lifestyle, reportedly living on just 300 yuan ($40) per month.

It’s safe to say that China has no shortage of math geniuses, but one among them stands out both for his prowess as a problem solver and his unusually frugal lifestyle. Born in 1991, Wei Dongyi showed amazing potential in the field of mathematics from a very young age, but he only started making news headlines in China during his high school years, when he won gold medals with perfect scores in the 49th and 50th International Mathematical Olympiads. His achievements allowed him to enroll at the prestigious Peking University without taking the infamous gaokao college exam, and he later became a respected teacher there. But, despite his fame as a math genius, Dongyi often attracts attention because of his simple way of life and modest looks.

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Shanghai authorities recently moved a traditional shikumen-style building complex at a pace of 10 meters per day with the help of an army of 432 hydraulic-powered robots.

The Huayanli complex, located within Zhangyuan in Shanghai’s Jing’an district, has been touted as China’s largest relocation project of its kind, both in terms of size and complexity. The tight layout of the building complex, which dates back to the 1920s and 1930s, made traditional construction and relocation tools virtually unusable, but authorities needed to find a way to move the entire block several hundred meters for the construction of a three-story underground structure. The project required all sorts of advanced technology that allowed the team in charge to temporarily relocate the 7,382-ton (7,500 metric ton), 13,222 square foot (4,030 square meter) building complex. Read More »

A bizarre trend sweeping through China has unemployed youths paying fees to pretend to work in rented offices for absolutely no financial gain.

Millions of Chinese people report to their office jobs every day, but while the overwhelming majority get paid to do so, some actually pay fake companies to allow them to pretend to work there. In exchange for a daily fee of between 30 and 50 yuan ($4-$7), these specialized companies offer anyone the chance to experience various working environments, complete with desks, lunch facilities, and free Wi-Fi. While most simply allow clients to chill in their facilities, those looking for an extra layer of realism can pay extra for fictitious tasks, fake managers, and even staged employee rebellions. These so-called “pretend-to-work companies” have been growing in popularity this year to meet a growing demand among unemployed youths. Read More »

A growing number of young Chinese looking for low-maintenance companionship are turning their attention to jars of activated yeast that only need flour and water. So-called static pets such as stones, mango pits, paper boxes, and even toothpaste have become very popular with Chinese youths looking for low-commitment companionship to compensate for their stresfull daily lives and careers. However, one such static pet has been seeing massive popularity in the Asian country, “pet yeast”. Nicknamed “face worm” by netizens, the yeast can be “raised” in a simple container by feeding dry yeast with flour, water, and a bit of sugar. After stirring the ingredients, all you need to do is wait a few hours to see the yeast grow into a sticky, bubbling mass that emits a typical wine-like aroma. Apparently, this is enough for young people looking for easy companionship. Read More »

A young Chinese woman recently went viral after sharing the dramatic physical transformation she experienced during her pregnancy, changes that have since subsided. Li Wei, a young woman from Kunming, in China’s Yunnan Province, was ecstatic when she first learned that she had become pregnant. She even looked better, her skin cleared up, and she had this incredible energy. Doctors told her it was normal to feel more radiant, a phenomenon known as the “joy of pregnancy”, because of elevated estrogen and progesterone levels. However, by the fifth month of her pregnancy, Li noticed strange changes to her face; her nose got a lot bigger, and her fine wrinkles became noticeably deeper to the point where she couldn’t recognize herself in the mirror. But this was only the beginning. Read More »

A 33-year-old Japanese man has been raising eyebrows because of his radical change in appearance after making drastic lifestyle changes and turning to cosmetic enhancements. Aki, who goes by @Aki_fit on X (Twitter), was recently featured on a popular show by Japanese online television network ABEMA, where he spoke about the shocking physical transformation that made him somewhat of an anti-aging guru on social media. The 33-year-old man said that everything started 10 years ago, after his boss at the time ridiculed him for looking much older than his age and going bald. His girlfriend broke up with him soon after that, so he was in a real dark place, but instead of wallowing in self-pity, he decided to completely change his way of life to become a better version of himself. Read More »

A Chinese woman with severe vitamin D deficiency caused by excessive sunscreen use suffered a bone fracture just by rolling in her bed. Doctors at the XinDu Traditional Medicine Hospital, in Chengdu, China, recently reported the unusual case of a 48-year-old local woman who had apparently suffered a bone fracture just by casually rolling in bed. According to Dr. Long Shuang, tests performed at the hospital showed that the unnamed woman’s vitamin D levels were extremely low, which had accelerated bone loss and caused the onset of severe osteoporosis. Further investigation revealed that the patient had avoided sunlight since childhood, rarely wearing short-sleeved shirts and always applying sunscreen when going outside. Her case was presented as a warning for other sunscreen enthusiasts who might be overusing it and thus affecting their bone health. Read More »

Chinese doctors were recently baffled by the curious case of a young woman who suddenly became unable to speak English, a language she had been fluent in. Last week, Wan Feng, the director of the Department of Neurosurgery at Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital in Guangzhou, China, posted a video of a 24-year-old woman who had suddenly fallen ill during class one day and developed a very curious symptom – the woman had been proficient in English prior to the classroom incident, but after, she could only speak Mandarin and Cantonese. The young woman could still read and understand English perfectly, but for some reason, she could no longer speak the language at all. Read More »

A Chinese woman was allegedly forced to take off her heavy makeup after facial recognition scanners at an airport failed to confirm her identity. A short clip showing a young woman using wet wipes to clean her face of makeup while being scolded by airport staff went viral on Chinese social media last week, sparking all sorts of humorous comments. According to the boarding pass shown in the video next to the woman’s ID, the video was shot in September of last year, at Shanghai Airport, but only recently attracted attention online. During the short clip, the woman holding the camera (presumably an airport official), scolds the young girl, telling her that she needs to wipe off all the makeup until she looks like the picture on her identification document. Read More »

Kansai International Airport welcomes tens of millions of passengers every year, but it has developed a system that ensures none of their baggage ever goes missing. Losing a piece of baggage is always a risk at airports. For example, in the US, data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics shows that domestic flights lose about 3 million bags every year. With hundreds of millions of individual bags to handle, losing some of them seems like an inevitability, and yet, one busy airport in Japan claims to have never lost a piece of baggage in its three decades of operation. Kansai International Airport, which serves the city of Osaka, opened in September 1994, to relieve the overcrowded Osaka International Airport and has been welcoming millions of passengers per year ever since. The staff at Kansai Airport pride themselves on being extremely efficient at handling passenger baggage, so much so that they have never once lost one. Read More »

Caterpillars aren’t the most appetizing meal for humans, but for the people of Vietnam’s Central Highlands, they are the main ingredient of a regional stir-fried dish. Every year, in the months of March and April, cassia trees in the central highlands of Vietnam are invaded by an army of yellowish caterpillars that love nothing more than to feed on their leaves. Once fully developed, the larvae leave the tree tops and crawl down the leaves to form cocoons, before turning into butterflies and flying away. But before this final transformation occurs, cassia caterpillar gatherers pick the caterpillars and pupae one by one to use in a simple stir-fried dish that can be a little hard to stomach. Read More »

Dico’s, a popular Chinese fast food restaurant chain, has been attracting a lot of attention because of its newest menu item, charred-looking chicken strips that don’t have the most appetizing appearance. Since 2015, Dico’s has been celebrating ‘Krispy Day’ by adding one or two crispy items to its menu, but this year, their newest additions have been attracting more attention than usual, mostly because of their unusual look. The “Black Gold Pepper Crispy Pork” became available at Dico’s restaurants across China at the end of last month, and it has been going viral on social media ever since. Not only do the crispy strips look charred, but their shape has been drawing comparisons to human poop and inspiring hundreds of funny comments online. Although the company has clarified that the meat is covered in a special “black gold coating” that causes it to turn black when deep-fried, most people are still not very tempted to try the new menu item. Read More »

A Japanese bus driver with 29 years of experience on the job lost his $84,000 retirement package after being caught stealing $7 in passenger bus fares. In 2022, while checking dashcam footage, members of the Kyoto Municipal Transportation Bureau spotted one of the Japanese city’s bus drivers pocketing a 1,000-yen bill, instead of putting it into the fare processing machine, as per standard procedure. When confronted about the incident, the man denied responsibility, but was eventually fired, and his retirement fund of more than 12 million yen was cancelled. The unnamed driver sued the city of Kyoto, but a Supreme Court ruling upheld the city’s decision, arguing that the man’s behavior could erode the public’s trust in the local transportation system. Read More »

A number of hair salons in China have introduced AI-powered shampooing machines that can reportedly wash and rinse clients’ hair in just 13 minutes. The AI revolution is just starting, but it seems the hair care industry is already using artificial intelligence to automate the hair-washing process in hair salons. According to several Chinese news outlets, AI-powered hair-washing devices have been spotted at hair salons in various districts of China’s Guangzhou Province, with some referring to their growing popularity as an “AI-shampooing craze”. The innovative machines reportedly rely on infrared sensors to detect the user’s scalp and then select the right shampoo and shampooing method based on the person’s hair type. Read More »