The Viral Week That Was is our weekly round-up of the previous week’s trending memes, humor, rumor, gossip, and everything else Chinese netizens are chatting about. Think of this as a nicotine patch to help ease yourself into the week after suckling on the smokey teat of the weekend.

Happy Monday one and all, and welcome to the wonderful world of Viral Week. Coming up in today’s edition, we bring you a cosplaying PR stunt, Hong Kong radio’s handover to China, soldiers addicted to mobile gaming, and Hiphopman’s exit from competition. But first…

Mrs. Fang prevails

The Golden Leopard award for best film at Switzerland’s Locarno Festival was Chinese documentary Mrs. Fang 《方绣英》. Though not as famous as its siblings in Cannes or Toronto, the Locarno is one of the longest-running film festivals in existence.

Director Wang Bing with his Golden Leopard (dianyingjie.com)

Directed by Wang Bing (王兵), the film follows the last days of the titular Mrs. Fang, an Alzheimer’s patient, as she succumbs to the natural embrace of death.

A scene from Mrs. Fang (dianyingjie.com)

This is not the first time that a Chinese director has prevailed at the Locarno. In the past ten years, three (including Wang) have claimed the top prize. In 2009, director Guo Xiaolu won with She, a Chinese 《中国姑娘》, and the following year saw Li Hongqi’s Winter Vacation 《寒假》 go home with the prize.

Cosplay outrage staged

Last week, an argument between a young cosplaying female and an older woman stirred up a mild debate on the Chinese interwebs.

Video evidence of said argument (What’s on Weibo)

The older woman claimed that cosplaying sets a bad example for children. The cosplayer retorted that her costumes are not slutty and that she is a normal university student.

What a normal uni student looks like (What’s on Weibo)

The incident made many people online give the cosplayer digital thumbs-ups for her calm approach to provocation. However, new information indicates the whole incident was a sham.

The poster behind the woman (What’s on Weibo)

The incident was, in fact, a marketing ploy for a company whose poster was displayed behind the older woman throughout the video. Womai.com is an online shopping website for high-quality imported foods. Now they’ve unwittingly positioned themselves as opponents of of cosplay.

Radio Handover

Hong Kong’s public broadcaster, Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) has been playing the BBC World Service on 24-hour relay for almost 40 years, but starting September 4, the Brits will be replaced by a more mainland flavor—China National Radio (CNR).

The change will be made to “enhance the cultural exchange between the mainland and Hong Kong,” according to a statement by RTHK’s head of corporate communications on their official website. The statement did not clarify how much the BBC’s broadcast would be limited by. In the future, listeners will only be able to the BBC World Service during the graveyard shift or online from the BBC’s official website.

Gaming Soldier

The popularity of mobile game King of Glory is not confined to civilians.  According to the PLA Daily, it’s become a trend for soldiers to play it in their dorms on the weekends.

It’s obvious who’s on the losing team (People’s Daily)

Now the paper claims that mobile-game addiction could negatively affect the health of soldiers due to the “faster blood circulation” needed for the gaming experience. In a survey, they found that while 69.8 percent of soldiers felt these games can help strengthen team unity, 55.8 percent admitted that King of Glory proficiency would not help in real-life combat scenarios.

Exit Hiphopman 

Readers following hit Chinese reality show Rap of China will already know of the existence of Hiphopman.

Originally competing in a mask, Hiphopman took the show by storm with great performances in English and Cantonese, and amateur bars in Mandarin. Audiences speculated on his identity, with most quickly figuring out who he was.

Clue: He is somewhere in this picture from the Fast and Furious franchise

Last week’s episode finally saw the unmasking of Hiphopman, and fans all over the country cried: “Knew it.”

“Fricking knew it” (@中国有嘻哈)

The contestant, known as MC Jin and for his rap battles in the US, was eliminated due to his insistence on speaking Mandarin rather than his more fluent Cantonese. But his parting post on Weibo was one of the most shared, liked, and commented on, as he included his competition lyrics with a photo featuring all the judges, and a link to his newest song.

Jin and judges (@歐陽靖MCJin)

Here are those lyrics (with translation):

其实我从第一天来到这个比赛
(From the first day I stepped onto this stage)
我问自己为什么真的有点奇怪
(I asked myself why it felt so strange)
麦克风在手中特别自在
(Microphone in my hand felt so natural)
但是不知道什么时候我需要离开
(But I didn’t know when I would need to leave)
每一轮坚持一点都不容易
(Continuing through every round wasn’t easy)
很感谢嘻哈给我一班新的兄弟
(Thankful that hip hop has given me a new group of friends)
卓卓 雙胞胎 孫八一
(Zhuo Zhuo, the twins, Sun Bayi)
你们要知道你的压力也是我的压力
(You have to know that your pressure is my pressure)
可能你觉得我是前辈我们不一样
(Maybe you see me as an elder so we are different)
我是一个学生在这个舞台上
(I am a student when I’m on this stage)

And here is his newest song:

Cover image from @中国有嘻哈