Viral Week is our weekly round-up of the weekend’s trending memes, humor, rumor, gossip, and everything else Chinese netizens are talking about.

Zoo animals imitate tourists fighting

A brawl between two families at the Beijing Wildlife Park attracted an audience of animals. Later that day, the park claimed that animals started to mimic the fight among themselves, causing chaos and requiring staff to remind the animals that “fighting is bad, very bad.”

Return to lockdown in Chinese cities

Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, has put all of its residential communities under closed management, restricting the number and types of people who can enter and leave each community, following a new outbreak of the Delta variant of Covid-19. The cities of Nanjing and Yangzhou are also under closed management, while Beijing has cancelled numerous flights and trains, tightening requirements for travelers entering the city.

Family of 16 in quarantine together

An extended family of 16 has been isolating in a single apartment in Yiyang, Hunan province, as the homeowner had invited relatives from out of town for a family reunion just before the community was designated a medium-risk area. The adults have to sleep on the floor in the living room, and the family passes the time by shooting videos of the games they play together and the big meals they cook every day (with extra food supplied by the community).

Sex scandal at Alibaba

A female employee of tech company Alibaba accused her supervisor of raping her during a business trip, as well as forcing her to drink with clients as a form of “sexual bribery.” According to the employee, the company ignored her complaints until she started handing out flyers in the company cafeteria to get more attention. After the news went viral, Alibaba CEO Zhang Yong said he was “shocked, angered and ashamed.” Staff involved in the scandal as well as those accused of negligence have since been fired, while police are making a criminal investigation into the matter.

Tourists flock to Olympic champ's hometown

After 14-year-old diver Quan Hongchan won hearts around the world with three perfect scores in diving at the Olympics, her family home near Zhanjiang, a little-known city in Guangdong province, became a popular tourist site with hundreds of daily visitors. Many were livestreamers trying to get a shot of the champion’s family members. Local authorities have set up security and health-control booths at the village entrance to manage the traffic.

Olympic Games closed

The Tokyo Olympic Games have wrapped up, with China ranking second in the medal count with 38 gold, 32 silver, and 18 bronze medals. The country also achieved other breakthroughs, such as runner Su Bingtian’s new Asian record of 9.83 seconds in the 100-meter race semi-finals. He is also the first Chinese runner to reach the Olympic men’s 100-meter final. The Chinese Men's Rowing Team have also won a bronze medal, its first ever medal in history.

Laughing woman swallows toothbrush

A woman in Jiangsu province accidentally swallowed her toothbrush when her husband told a joke while she was brushing her teeth, causing netizens to wonder what the joke was about.

Chimpanzee imitates zookeeper

A chimpanzee in a zoo was found to be imitating its keepers by putting on a face mask and washing its hands with soap.

Crackdown on illegal tutoring

An unlicensed tutor in Hanshan, Anhui Province was caught teaching a large class of students. After community security and personnel broke down the door to halt the class, the teacher was then physically removed, at one point grabbed by the neck and questioned. The official report claimed it was a violation of the epidemic prevention guidelines. The teacher had also been warned previously about stopping his illegal tutoring, part of China’s recent crackdown on the education industry.