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Let’s be honest — it’s never a good time to be a zombie. Your golf swing results in limb-fetching. Your entrails keep tripping you up during morning walks. Every now and then, a stray eyeball winds up in your soup… it sucks. Similarly, if you’re merely a fan of walking corpses and not one yourself, you, too, could be experiencing some difficulties, especially if you live in China.
Police in China have been cracking down on social media users who purport depictions of fantasy — zombies, aliens, monsters — as being “real.” Apparently, it’s okay to create a novel, film, or some other kind of fiction about the undead or extraterrestrials, but posting such nonsense on that bastion of truth that is Twitter will lead to serious repercussions. Take the case of Zhang, for instance; a 21-year-old gentleman who made the mistake of posting a picture of a blood-covered woman on Weibo (a Chinese mashup of Twitter and Facebook), telling users she was a zombie. Police responded by posting a notice that the woman was not a zombie, and — I’m not making this up — citizens should stay away from hallucinogenics. Zhang was detained for 10 days as a result.
Police nipped another story in the bud when a picture of a mummified body popped up on the net, and rumors abounded that it was the remains of a zombie. The Chinese cops are really trying not to let these zombie rumors get out of hand. Also, hallucinogenics. They’re not good, too.
https://twitter.com/irationalme/status/517196087405195264/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Another incident that ended in police action occurred in 2013, when a Chinese farmer claimed to have evidence of aliens. He went so far as to post pictures of his “alien” corpse that was actually made of rubber. Anyway, Chinese authorities thought it was large enough of a threat to hold a press conference consoling those who thought it was real, and ended up jailing the guy for five days.
https://twitter.com/dee_bosa/status/344943512871133184/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
One incident that actually seemed worthy of police intervention happened when pictures of a mythological sheep-faced man-beast were spread online.
https://twitter.com/nanchangxinwen/status/481685288444788736/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Authorities were quick to respond, telling folks that it was just an actor, in costume, taking a dump while working on a film. A collective “Thank God!” might have been heard coming from Chinese citizens, because while a creepy creature prowling about is cause for some worry, one pooping while looking at you square in the eyes is terrifying.
Some hallucinogenics would be awesome about now.
(via New York Times)