A furious Chinese internet takes on privilege

This was supposed to be a great year for Chinese actress Nashi, with major roles in two great films and very expected TV drama.

But in June, 35-year-old star was shattered as a stir over the results of her exam for more than a decade, which caused a violent reaction via the Internet-and at the end of the end an official investigation into her academic record.

The repercussions were immediate. Her name was cleaned of drama credits, Lychees in Chang’an, and Brands began to cut ties.

It joins an increasing list of people who face a severe scrutiny in China because of their privilege, as the authorities have launched investigations to appease public anger.

In recent months, these viral scandals have struck two actresses, Harvard graduates, and a doctor from Beijing Supreme Hospital: all young women. They were accused of taking advantage of family contacts to gain an unfair feature.

“There is a privilege every year, but this year there is more than ever,” says Weibo. Another wrote: “I would like to see more scandals like this. It really opens the eye.”

With frustration with high unemployment and slow economy, more and more Chinese youth feel that links, or Guanxi, pay more fruits than hard work, Research shows.

For example, Nashi was accused of using the actresses of the actress to register at a prominent drama school.

The program, which her mother attended in the 1980s, was for Mongolian racial students like them. But then, the old interview interview, in which she said she did not meet a major commitment – went to study in Norway after graduation, instead of returning to work in the inner Mongolia as required in the program.

Speculation grew in early June, just as millions of elderly people sat in high school for the hard university admission exam called Gaokao – the same exam that Nashi received in the Drama School in 2008.

I dug the Internet on the Internet the lowest for that year and suspected it was. Did she just go to the drama school because of her mother, they asked. It was a dangerous claim that officials eventually interfered to explain that she had obtained a much higher degree.

But it was not enough.

Internet scandals are hardly unique in China, but they have become an outlet that affects the need-to anger or questions or just disappointment-in a tightly tight society.

Independent media is almost not present, leaving a large field of uninterrupted speculation and clear rumors of spreading quickly through the wide social media world in China. In some cases, online users made their own investigations to verify allegations and reveal violations.

This is what happened in April when two doctors were found – they were identified only by their titles, Mr. Xiao and Mrs. Dong – at Beijing Hospital Supreme themselves in a national storm on an alleged love relationship.

The wife of Mr. Xiao wrote a letter to the employer who accuses him of the preference of Mrs. Dong at work because the two were in a relationship. Among her many allegations that eventually cost him his job: she said that he left a diluted patient without observation at the operation table for 40 minutes to defend Mrs. Dong during a dispute with a nurse.

It was a horrific link but soon became much more, as interest turned to Mrs. Dong. The angry internet discovered that she had finished studying to be a doctor in only four years, compared to at least eight years.

They accused her of deceiving her way to the elite program at the College of Medicine in China, the Peking Union Medical College, and the deviation of the graduation thesis.

It was so intense, a violent reaction that the National Health Committee achieved these allegations. The authorities canceled the license of Mrs. Dong to practice medicine and its degrees, in the hope that it would put an end to the controversy.

Her clinical experience – which spanned through various disciplines – was also scrutinized, along with her family’s political relations. But officials did not respond to these accusations, which raised more questions about covering up.

“There were failures in every step. There is no way to dig any deeper,” says a young doctor in the city of Qingdao, who did not want to share her name.

It says it is uncommon for people to use “Guanxi” to help their children find jobs, but what bothering her is “deep injustice.”

After spending 11 years to become a resident like Mrs. Dong, she says that she and her colleagues have never heard of the program from which Mrs. Dong graduated: “We were all shocked when we learned this. It is clear that it is not intended for ordinary people like us.”

This scandal, which has been specially postponed in excessive China, where doctors work hard to gain accommodation in higher hospitals, or simply to stick to the jobs they enjoy.

“Why everything is unfair,” I asked, reference to the disappointment that was widespread in the online comments.

“We are working tirelessly in treating patients who have the utmost care – as if we were their grandchildren. However, our lives are much worse than [Ms] Dong. “

It was this resentment that pushed anger against Harvard graduate of Yuanna Jiang In June.

She drew attention after her speech at the graduation ceremony on the same day, the American federal judge banned US President Donald Trump’s ban on foreign students at Harvard University. When she participated on the Internet, she talked about a difficult childhood, spent “drifting from one place to another”, and how she gave her the study hard everything she had now.

Initially, she applauded her call to unity in a stable world – even some Chinese commented, saying they were affected by her words. But her publications on social media quickly got angry on the Chinese Internet, which then began examining her autobiography and challenging her claim that hard work alone led to her success.

Its critics did not sympathize with her challenges – they found holes in every story and when it retreated, it doubled.

It seemed another reminder of the narrow opportunities that faced many Chinese youth.

Slow growth has brought after edges, salary discounts and recruitment freezing. Millions of graduates are struggling to find jobs, settling for low -wage business or quitting the race completely.

A Rednote user said it was published online only these scandals to discover hours after the work offer that accepted it was withdrawn because the company had temporarily stopped employment.

“It is certain that the things you did not generate will never have this age,” she wrote.

This anger is not new. For some time now, the Chinese government is controlling excessive offers of wealth by celebrities and influencers. But there are things that escape from her watchful eye, like a pair of earrings.

The scandal of actress Hwang Yang Tian Tian came when the suspicious Internet began to speculate that the recent earrings she wore cost more than $ 2.3 million ($ 320,000; 237,100 pounds).

They started asking how she could bear their costs and discovered that her father was a civilian employee who turned into the business column. Then they discovered that he worked in the local government in Yan, which had a devastating earthquake in 2008.

The controversy detonated more questions about the family’s wealth, and the movement that benefited from the recovery boxes after restoring. The authorities denied this and said that the earrings of Mrs. Huang, made of glass, were a cheap replica for a luxury husband.

But not everyone believes in them. “You know what you know,” one of them reads Weibo with more than 1000 likes. “Was the officials laughing?” Another user asks.

While the Chinese Communist Party is feeling enough to launch investigations, their rapid response does not seem sufficient.

“The loss of general confidence has not occurred in a day or two,” a user writes on Rednote. “It is the result of conducting an investigation after another that insults our intelligence, a single accident that has not been solved after another.”

General frustration remains as the party tries to deal with increased discontent. Its mission to young people is that they should “eat bitterness”, which is a Chinese phrase for permanent difficulties, in the pursuit of “national renewal”.

But online, one of the few places where the Chinese are still speaking frankly, this message seems to give up hollow as people discuss the advantages of “elites”, and often referred to as “they”.

“They are the reason that we worked hard for three generations and we are still in misery,” says a loved comment on Weibo.

Another comment on Rednote, where no one is accused in particular: “We win money at one percent at the same time, while hundreds of millions are embezzled – then they teach us that hard work leads to prosperity and that this work is respectful.”