China targets ‘toxic’ traffic as viral sensations upend daily life and public services

Authorities in China are taking content creators, fan groups and online platforms to task as their aggressive pursuit of online traffic upends lives and public services across the country.

State media and local authorities have called on these parties to exercise restraint and stop attention-seeking behaviour from getting out of control.

The warnings followed a wave of public attention that hit a 75-year-old man and his wife in Shaoxing in eastern Zhejiang province this month.

Crowds of visitors, live streamers and photographers descended on the couple’s home to see seven gourds growing on their balcony, a scene reminiscent of Calabash Brothers, a popular Chinese animated series released in 1986.

The series follows seven magical brothers born from gourds and raised by their grandfather. Videos and images of the couple in Shaoxing and their gourds quickly went viral, with internet users dubbing the man “Grandpa Calabash”.

However, as more visitors began gathering outside the home, taking photographs, live-streaming, calling out “grandpa” and knocking on the door, what began as an expression of affection increasingly disrupted the couple’s daily life, eventually leading them to cut down all the gourds last Saturday.