People are paying to scold fictional characters in online groups in China
You can buy access to WeChat and QQ “scolding groups” on Taobao
“Don’t you hate the Su’s family father and two sons? I hate them too. Come on, vent out a bit!”
This might sound, well, incredibly abusive. But the groups are private and the people aren’t real -- they’re characters in a popular Chinese soap opera. Still, the anger directed at them is real, and it’s sparked a cottage industry of online chat groups where people join together to hurl insults at the fictional characters that frustrate them the most.
(Abacus is a unit of the South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba -- which also owns Taobao.)
The show portrays a local family which, in keeping with a Chinese traditional preference for boys, showers praise on their selfish sons and neglects their only daughter, treating familial relations like "business deals.”
Makes you furious, right? You’re not the only one: The online groups gained sudden popularity this week with about a dozen Taobao vendors offering so-called “scolding groups.”
