Sina Weibo's watershed came in 2011 after two high-speed trains crashed in Wenzhou: as officials bungled the response, and then censored news stories, netizens stormed onto Sina's microblogging platform to voice their outrage and fill gaps of knowledge with educated speculation. Four years later, just as Weibo has seemingly run its course, a different program is stepping into its place as the prime facilitator of unfettered discussion in this country of shackled exchange.
We have two videos from the stabbing this morning, in which a man wielding a meter-long sword attacked -- seemingly at random -- two people outside Uniqlo in Sanlitun, Beijing. The first video, above, is graphic, and I wouldn't recommend it if you'd rather not watch a woman bleeding from stab wounds.
As heard on social media, there was a stabbing this morning outside the Uniqlo in Sanlitun, one of the busiest areas of foot traffic and commerce in Beijing. Police appear to have subdued the assailant and roped off the area.
It doesn't have to be Uniqlo. (Actually, better if it isn't -- spread the wealth.) It doesn't even have to be a dressing room. But here's an honest chance for us, the little people, to make a real difference in the fight against censorship: we can -- by a simple bit of sex in a public place, a camera phone, and an Internet connection -- show the world just how fucking dumb this fucking government can sometimes fucking be.
I passed by Uniqlo just now on my way home, the infamous Sanlitun branch where a young man and woman had sex in the fitting room and put the video of it online. Maybe that part of Sanlitun Village always has a large crowd of young folks milling about. Maybe there are those who ironically take selfies in front of retail chains, and journalists often un-ironically do work there (CNN!). I don't know. Or maybe shoppers are lining up for this season's hottest new item:
If you've been anywhere near WeChat or Weibo today (or China's corner of Twitter, for that matter), you've likely heard that a young man filmed himself having sex with a young woman in a fitting room in the Sanlitun branch of Uniqlo in Beijing recently. The video was uploaded to the Internet yesterday evening and has been making the rounds. It's out there. Someone was gonna post it. [...] Here it is.
