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Global Times: “All iPhone 6 Owners Deserve to Be Despised”

Posted: 09/28/2014 11:53 am

iphone 6 retail saleChina’s firebrand mouthpiece has published an editorial advocating open hostility towards anyone who owns an iPhone 6, which still isn’t officially on sale in China.

The nationalist newspaper Global Times said lust after the product and the opportunists that are trying cater to it have both made China lose face on an international scale; “face”, of course, being the ancient concept that the respect of a person or entity is entirely dependent upon what others think of you/it.

READ: iPhone 6 Selfie Spreads on Chinese Social Networks

The Global Times points to three individuals arrested for fighting outside an Apple store as an example, noting all three are “Chinese nationals”. In fact, the paper even printed this passage:

A US police officer insulted (the Chinese people waiting in line), saying, ‘Haven’t you people ever heard of soap?‘ After this incident comes to be known in China, it will be an embarrassment for many people here.

READ: Unreleased Hong Kong and US Versions of iPhone 6
Already on Sale in Beijing for US$4,500

So what does the Global Times think of iPhone 6 owners?

Most people do it for vanity so that they can show it off. It’s as though having an iPhone 6 right now is so awesome, as if it were trendy, cool, and impressive. But in fact, the people that now have the iPhone 6 aren’t what they think they are.

READ: Chinese Line Up Globally To Buy – And Then Sell – the iPhone 6

The reckless drive for profit is not just something that Chinese have done, but Marx described how profit can warp human nature. At the time he said it, he was referring to Westerners.
…
To borrow a phrase, “If there is no buying or selling, then there is no loss of face.”

READ: Shenzhen: The Cradle of the iPhone, and Also its Huge Resale Market

The op-ed concludes by saying why Chinese people should be ashamed:

Many people say the iPhone 6 exploits the Chinese people by performing mental experiments in the form of number of marketing tricks, thus proving that there are fools with too much money in the Chinese market. This is the place where there is a real loss of face. That’s why whomever has an iPhone 6 deserves to be looked down upon with despise.

With the blame fully doled out, no mention was made in the op-ed of the reason behind the delayed launch of the iPhone 6 in China. As reported by AsiaOne, Beijing’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology did not list the iPhone 6 as having been approved for the Chinese market before its worldwide launch.

READ: No Mooncakes, No work! Workers at Apple’s Supplier
in Dongguan on Strike

Though the iPhone 5s launched in China simultaneously with the rest of the world, this iPhone hit a snag when CCTV accused Apple of threatening national security by being able to track a user’s location. However, rumors are the iPhone 6 is set to go on sale in China on October 10.

Related:

Photo: Reuters

Haohao
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Chinese iPhone Buyers Brawl in the US as Local Launch Nears

Posted: 09/24/2014 8:58 am

new haven apple fight iphone 6A fight broke out in a line-up of people waiting to purchase the new iPhone 6 among two “rival groups”, leading to suspicions the buyers plan to resell the product to a Chinese market at inflated prices, reports Sina.

Ten people identified as “Chinese nationals” by Sina were involved in a brawl outside an Apple store in New Haven, USA on September 22. Three people were arrested, one of whom was sent to hospital but is okay.

Since the iPhone was released on Friday, police have been repeatedly called in by store managers complaining of unruly behavior, reports NBCDFW. New Haven police spokesman Officer David Hartman described the situation:

There seem to be two groups, rival groups, mainly of Chinese people who are coming in from New York on a daily basis and are trying to buy as many phones as the store will allow to sell any one person. These rival groups have been challenging each other over their places in line. At times, these challenges have resulted in violence.

A grandson and nephew to two of the people taken away protested against the arrests, saying, ”We do nothing!”

The iPhone’s price varies based on model, but reports indicate it is worth three to four times its original value when resold on the Chinese market. Reuters reports of many opportunists exploiting the delayed launch of the new Apple product in China.

The demand for the iPhone 6 has led to many smuggling attempts at China’s borders. In the three days since the phone’s launch, 600 iPhone 6′s have been seized at the Huanggang and Futian crossing in Shenzhen.

Mass numbers of Chinese are also said to have been the source of conflict in line-ups for the iPhone 6 in Japan, also leading to police involvement.

However, it looks like the wait in China may finally be over. Tencent is reported as saying the iPhone 6 is in the final stages of approval, and should be available “very soon”.

Photo: Sina Video

Haohao
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Guangzhou Customers Reject Frozen Chickens

Posted: 05/7/2014 7:37 pm

The initiative to supply Guangzhou consumers with frozen chicken instead of operating live poultry markets has encountered resistance in just its second day of operation.

Chickens were only available in 22 percent of the markets, while no ducks or geese were on sale at all. 

Liwan District, one of the trial areas, was reported to have few markets to offer any chicken for sale at all amid customer complaints.

A seller named Mr Huang stated that he wanted more stock of frozen chickens at better quality so that he can offer a range of prices, while another seller said:

“The market is dependent upon the customer. Yesterday, we had customers come try out the frozen chicken, but today we don’t have any repeat customers. I’m really worried if I’m able to continue to sell anymore chickens.”

As if to punctuate the demand for the now prohibited live chickens, a black market poultry market is rumored to be in operation.

Planned as a contingency to reduce the risk of spreading the H7N9 virus, consumers are still skeptical at the decision to ban poultry markets if but just for the difference in taste. A recent survey revealed 38 percent of residents are not in favor of closing the live poultry markets, while 66 percent of residents believe that frozen chicken will compromise the taste and flavor of cooked chicken dishes.

Despite this preference to keeping live poultry markets open, the most recent case of avian flu in Guangdong Province occurred on May 1. A Shenzhen 53 year-old woman named Zhong was positively identified with the H7N9 virus.

Sellers are not able to sell chickens to customers that won’t buy, and customers not able to buy chickens from sellers who don’t have any in stock. While we know this as “chicken and the egg”, it seems that not being able to buy chicken 买鸡 is a problem that Guangzhou residents now share with residents in Dongguan.

Haohao
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