Those who live and work around Chaoyangmen in Beijing have noticed a recent addition to the neighborhood. Above the Burger King at U-Town Mall, a huge purple banner has been erected that reads, in Chinese, “Time Since Losing Contact,” a reference to the number of hours that have passed since the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
Below the counter, the banner reads, in a combination of English and Chinese, “Boeing 777-200, MH370, 239 people, China 154 countrymen.”
Pictures were uploaded to Instagram by Time Out Beijing (above) and @Howick_Leung (below).
This comes at a time of anger from both representatives of the Chinese government and the friends and relatives of the passengers on MH370. As the New York Times reports, Malaysia Airlines employees were in Beijing on Monday morning to address the relatives of passengers, but the meeting didn’t go well:
“All Malaysians are liars!” one man shouted in Chinese. “Do you know what ‘liars’ means?”
“Tell him in English,” he yelled to the one woman among the four airline employees. She was the interpreter, and the three men were senior managers.
They did not respond to the Chinese man. It was unclear if the interpreter translated the insult.
MH370, bound for Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, disappeared somewhere between Malaysia and Vietnam on Saturday. The search is now entering its fifth day.
The picture above — which shows the counter at 84 hours — is outdated.
UPDATE, 11:59 pm: The banner has been taken down.
Follow Margaux @schreursmargaux
Only tong bao during a disaster. Every other day it’s cheat, swindle, spit on, cut off, abuse and kill the dear 同胞.
Though they are trying to discredit evil foreign company Boeing with the prominent association of the aircraft, they incorrectly show the plane as a four engine job when, in fact, it’s not.
Keep it classy, as ever, China.
Up next on this billboard: The ever-growing number of days since the CCP took ABSOLUTELY NO RESPONSIBILITY WHATSOEVER for the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution.
So what did happen.
1. Chinese agents were on board plane in KL
2. Entered cockpit following stewardess that was serving crew once 10,000ft was passed. They knew the routine.
3. Captain and 1st officer incapacitated
4. One agent went into bay and messed with avionics while other re tuned localizer on central panel.
5. Aircraft ditched (as in Hudson river landing)
6. Water cocks opened flooding fuselage/wings, plane sank.
7. Chinese agents collected by planned rendezvous with Chinese freighter in pre-chosen area.
8. Foreign countries unwittingly allow Chinese navy into their territory and seas which gives the Chinese just about all the military sonar/mapping data they could ever wish for.
Wonder why they are still sniffing around the discounted search areas?