Trending in Beijing: Attacked Surgeon Speaks and Hutong Weasel Fights a Snake
The fun, the strange, and the what-on-earth-is-this? Trending in Beijing is a wrap-up of top stories in Beijing as told by the trending hashtags, local press, and general power of the internet.
Attacked doctor speaks up after recovery
The doctor who was attacked in Chaoyang Hospital in January of this year was recently interviewed by CGTN, sparking the hashtag ‘Dr. Tao Yong, ophthalmologist at Chaoyang Hospital, Speaks Up’ #北京朝阳医院眼科医生陶勇发声#.
Dr. Tao was the victim of a vicious attack at knifepoint, but he says he wants to turn the narrative away from himself and into a much-needed conversation about how costly healthcare can be. Financial stress due to the cost of the attacker’s treatment may have been a factor behind the assault, and although there can be no doubt that attacking the surgeon – who says he actually helped the patient save money on their treatment – was, to say the least, a misplacement of frustration, Tao still says he understands how difficult medical expenses can be, and calls for dramatic changes to the system.
"I hope that in the future, medical insurance will cover more and pay more to people with severe and chronic diseases, and public hospitals will be more public," he told CGTN. "The patients will not simply regard medical service as goods. I give you money, you must give me good results."
Though he’s no longer able to practice surgery due to the wound in his hand, Tao is already back to work doing cutting edge research as the director of the ophthalmology department at Beijing Chaoyang Hospital.
A hutong weasel’s epic battle with a snake
A crowd gathered around the railing of an unspecified Beijing residential complex this week, as a skirmish ensued. It was a fight that has gone on perhaps as long as the ferret family has occupied earth – that between the weasel and the snake. A hutong weasel – that scruffy yellow bugger you may have seen scurrying across the alleyways of Dongcheng, had picked a fight with its natural prey. The fight was caught on camera and posted by BTV.
One netizen took the opportunity to recall their own encounter with such a weasel fight, writing,
There was a fight between cats and hutong weasels outside my house. The weasel killed many kittens by taking it away. The mother cat was angry and went to find the weasel desperately. As a result, the mother cat narrowly won: the weasel was killed by the mother cat, and the mother cat’s neck was bitten and infected, and it almost died. It took a long time to recover, but the kittens were never taken away.
The lesson? If you see a weasel in the hutongs, keep your distance.
Images: BTV, CGTN
