Yet another bout of rumormongering has sent Nanjing’s, and presumably many an expat living up and down the East Coast, into quite the tizzy. An article on the Expatlife WeChat page, that quickly went viral, made some rather extreme claims.
The article (which has since been removed from WeChat) stated that foreigners are not permitted to travel to tourist hotspots such as Beijing and Shanghai during the 19th Congress of the Communist Party that is happening this week.
The article also warned that large gatherings of foreigners, including those for religious purposes, are also not permitted. In addition to this gobbledygook, it was stated foreigners must exercise caution at all times and will be subject to harsh scrutiny from authorities during this time.
Similar WeChat posts were sent out amongst foreign circles with no attached evidence to prove as to from where the information came. While it remains unclear where Expatlife sourced its information, what is clear is the response issued by authorities.
Quick in its retort to such ludicrous nonsense was Nanjing Normal University, after what one can only imagine was a flurry of flustered students banging down office doors and demanding why they are banned from traveling.
The university issued a statement to its students, effectively quieting the panic. It said, “Expatlife [has] published fake news…there is not any regulation to forbid foreigners to travel…[and that] international students can enjoy legal religious activities”.
Other scary recent reads such as “China Shuts Down VPNs For Good” were also swiftly denied by authorities. With fake news becoming quite the topic outside of China interestingly, Baidu itself conducts over 3 billion fake news claims annually.
Speaking with Bloomburg TV in October of 2017, Baidu president Zhang Yaqin said, “Every year we see somewhere around 3 billion claims that we need to verify…it continues to be a challenge for us”.
The Nanjing Normal University statement also mentioned the article has “made some trouble to our international students” and “the Chinese government did not issue this kind of notice”.
Suffice it to say that unless such news comes verified via conventional means such as government issued quotes or data, we expats need not fret, for it is probably just another rumour.
