Rotten Mango - China's "Red Uncle/Sister Hong" Exposed W/ 1600+ Victims But Became The Biggest MEME

Episode Date: August 4, 2025

July 5th, 2025 a predator in Nanjing, China is arrested. He’s been nicknamed, ‘Uncle Red’ and his face gets plastered on the news. Finally. The community can breathe and go about their daily li...ves, right? No. Netizens instead start a boycott and it works.   No future travel into or through Nanjing.Gyms are shutting down. No one wants to visit. Some residents are ashamed to have an Nanjing address. Suddenly the biggest online diss you can throw at someone on Chinese social media is telling them that their husband or father is from Nanjing. It’s clear that after Uncle Red’s arrest, nothing and nobody is the same… but how the hell is an entire city impacted by one man’s arrest? For that, all you have to do is log onto Chinese social media and you’ll see it. I’m talking, screenshots, gifs, full videos, memes, AI parodies of Uncle Red’s crimes... Over a thousand graphic videos that captured hundreds of Nanjing residents in their most intimate moments between them and a partner. They had no idea Uncle Red was recording them.And they had no idea that the partner participating in the videos with them was actually Uncle Red too.   Full show notes at rottenmangopodcast.com 

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 The city of Nanjing in China is probably the equivalent to Chicago in the United States. Just in terms of population, you're talking about at least 9 million residents, which means theoretically, if somebody farts or sneezes on one side of Chicago, you would imagine that at least 8,999,990 people don't care and don't even hear it, don't even smell it. Maybe unless you're the mayor of the city or someone with five cans of WD-40 strapped to their chest and a lighter. It is very unlikely that one person's actions in a city as big as Chicago or Nanjing,, China, you're probably not gonna impact the whole city. July 2025. Something weird is happening in Nanjing. The ones who know about it and are talking about it online, they're all boycotting any future travel into and through Nanjing. Like, you would think that there's
Starting point is 00:00:58 an outbreak of some sorts. They're talking about Nanjing online as if something incredibly dangerous, contagious is spreading inside the city with the residents. Some people online don't even want to come in contact with someone that's been in the city of Nanjing in the past year. These are people outside of Nanjing. Some people inside of Nanjing? Nothing. They have no idea what's going on.
Starting point is 00:01:19 They have no idea what people on the other side of the country or the other side of the world are saying about their city. In fact, there's this one guy. He posts online and he's just saying something weird has been happening. Okay, so he was on the street the other day. He lives in the city of Nanjing, if you need some context, which really isn't that pertinent, or so he thought. He was gonna go visit his uncle and he didn't want to go empty-handed. His uncle loves fruit. His favorite fruit is watermelon. He goes to the store, purchases the biggest watermelon that they have, which on second thought might not be the smartest idea.
Starting point is 00:01:50 Because now he's hauling this massive watermelon down the block and a stranger stops him, literally smirks at him and sneers. He's like, what the hell is wrong with this stranger? Like, I didn't even bump into you. I didn't do anything to you. Going to see your old man. That's crazy. This guy on line is like, I mean, I've lived in Nanjing my whole life. Strangers don't talk to each other. It's not like America where you make small talk.
Starting point is 00:02:15 It's like everyone goes about their day. Everyone's busy. It's a pali pali type of hurry hurry culture there as well. The tone is kind of malicious also, which is throwing him off. And it's so weird. Is he about to get jumped on the street for a watermelon? He responds, yeah.
Starting point is 00:02:30 The stranger looks him up and down and shoots him, a look that can only be described as utmost disgust. Like if someone were to step on a cockroach barefoot in the middle of summer, and then half that cockroach carcass just sticks to the bottom of their soul. That's what it looks like. And then the stranger just walks off. Mr. Watermelon has no clue what this entire interaction was about but it's all connected. Mr. Watermelon, the internet boycotting
Starting point is 00:02:59 travel to Nanjing and somehow even that's all connected to Nanjing gyms and fitness centers that are all seemingly, at the same time, on the brink of collapse simultaneously. It seems like every single gym in the city is on the verge of shutting down. Some of them are even trying to sell private training lessons for $13 for three sessions. And they're still not selling any. And if you start tracing it all back to when this all happens, you can almost pinpoint a day that this all starts. July 5th, 2025.
Starting point is 00:03:36 It's the day that a person the internet has now nicknamed Uncle Red gets arrested. Because after Uncle Red's arrest, nothing and nobody is the same. How the hell is the entire city impacted by this one man's arrest? It could be the thousand plus videos that he has on Nanjing citizens, secretly recorded videos of random Nanjing residents during the most intimate moments of their lives. It could be that, or it could just be that, Uncle Red is kind of crazy. We would like to thank today's sponsors who have made it possible for Rotten Mango to
Starting point is 00:04:33 support the National Immigration Law Center, one of the leading advocacy organizations in the US dedicated to defending the rights of immigrants and their loved ones. This episode's partnerships have also made it possible to support Rotten Mango's growing team and we would also like to thank you guys for your continued support. As always, full show notes are available at RotmangoPodcast.com. A few very important disclaimers for this episode. We had our Chinese researchers help assist with this case, as well as to help navigate a lot of the social conversations that are happening afterwards and just trying to navigate the social context of everything.
Starting point is 00:05:03 Today's case involves mentions of illegal distribution of intimate moments without a party's consent, video footage. Today's case is also unique in the sense that it's going to be discourse heavy. So the crime itself is ongoing, but much of the conversation and the internet reaction has become part of the case itself. Like, you can't really separate the two. It's not one where I can be like, hey, so I'm going to tell you about the case. And then maybe a few little internet comments here. It's so embedded. You can't talk about one without the other. Otherwise it feels like you're not getting the full picture of what's happening out there.
Starting point is 00:05:35 So I'm going to tell you everything that's been happening in the effort to present all sides of the case. Just because I'm telling you what people are saying online does not mean that I'm endorsing what they're saying or trying to make light of a situation, but like I said, the discourse is almost becoming bigger than the case itself and to ignore that would not make it go away. I mean it's still there. Just because we don't like to hear certain conversations doesn't mean those conversations are gonna stop or they cease to exist happening, so keep that in mind. Now the biggest note to go into this case is it involves a male identifying perpetrator
Starting point is 00:06:09 who by most reports and accounts seems to only portray themselves as a woman online to lure in straight men to engage in sex acts. So with the perpetrators end goal being to secretly film videos. Our team had multiple extensive conversations about the best way to identify the perpetrator and ultimately we decided since there is zero public indication that the perpetrator identifies as anything other than male in any other context, then when they're trying to commit
Starting point is 00:06:38 violations for monetary profit, we will be using he-him pronouns. That said, we understand that there could be a slim possibility that the perpetrator is suppressing their gender identity since they may not live in the most progressive city in the world. There's no indication of that that we found so far, but we just want to make it clear we are not intentionally, purposefully misgendering someone if that is indeed the case. It's just in this moment with the given information that we have, this is the most respectful decision that we could make. Secondly, regardless of the perpetrator's identity, their crimes are their own and are not representation of any group of people. In fact, cases like this can perpetuate negative, queerphobic generalizations,
Starting point is 00:07:15 and if those are the conclusions that one comes to after listening to the entirety of this episode, I would like to advise them to visit the nearest emergency room for possible brain damage. Thirdly, there is massive discussion surrounding full informed consent. As of now, none of the men in the videos have explicitly consented to the release of their footage. So keep that in mind. So with that being said, let's get started. Nothing gets people more violently riled up in my opinion. I have never seen a group of people so quick to curse at each other, just like refusing to compromise than a good old harmless conversation
Starting point is 00:07:52 about who has better morals. It's the moral dilemma. It is the quickest way to get people close to you to scream at the top of their lungs because if you refuse to kill one person, then you're intentionally knowingly killing five other people, so you're actually not a good person. However, because I am willing to kill one person,
Starting point is 00:08:10 I'm a better person than you. I'm morally superior than you. But that's just the trolley problem. It's like the most calm demure of all moral dilemmas. There's a man named Jonathan Haidt, and he's got a lot of very uncomfortable moral dilemmas that people like to debate and familial ties with after long-standing fights about who's the better human. Take for example, a family's pet is killed outside in front of their house. They had heard that roadkill meat is very delicious. Wait. This is a moral dilemma, okay? Family's pet killed outside, ran over by a car, the family had heard from previous conversations that roadkill meat is very delicious, so they
Starting point is 00:08:51 bring in their family pet, nobody is watching, nobody knows the family is doing this, and they cook the family pet's meat and eat it for dinner. nobody saw them do this. did the family do anything morally wrong? some will argue, well it's gross, but that's not the question. Is it morally wrong? And then they'll say, well I guess the pet is already dead and it's their family pet so if anyone's gonna be upset about the situation it would be them and it's not like they're encouraging other people by doing it. They're not posting it online. Nobody saw them do it. I mean it's gross, but is it morally wrong? Jonathan then further asks, then consider this.
Starting point is 00:09:27 A man goes to a supermarket once a week, buys a chicken, a dead chicken. And before butchering the chicken, he has intimate relations with the chicken, and then he cooks it and eats it by himself. He does not share the food with anyone. He does not share the kitchen with anyone. He has no young kids in the house.
Starting point is 00:09:42 Nobody sees him do this. He is a single man who does this in his free time. The question is, is it morally wrong? Who is this guy? He's like a, he's an author, he's, I believe he's a professor as well. Got it, got it. And the question is not, is it gross? The question is not, would you do this? Do you want to be friends with chicken man? The question is simply, is it morally wrong? This is, side note, also why you cannot have philosophy majors over for dinner because this would just end up in a bloodbath. Some would argue that this is an efficient use of natural resources. Others
Starting point is 00:10:15 would say that there is a lack of respect being shown to a former living, breathing creature, which they would deem, personally, morally wrong. That's what they're saying. Then comes another moral dilemma. Okay, then hold that thought. So you think the act of doing this to a dead chicken because that chicken was once alive at some point is wrong. Then I mean, you could also argue that you shouldn't be eating chickens
Starting point is 00:10:37 and then the only people that could have that argument would be vegans. But if you're not a vegan, then how can you have that argument? Then comes another moral dilemma. So let's say a woman is cleaning out her closet. She finds an old flag of whatever nation you're part of or whatever nation you have the most utmost respect for, whether that be the American flag, the South Korean flag, whatever.
Starting point is 00:10:56 It's a national flag. She finds it. She has no use for it, doesn't want it anymore. So she cuts it up into pieces and then uses it as a rag to clean her toilet. Nobody looks through her bathroom window, nobody finds out, she doesn't post it on social media as some sort of message to the youth. It's not a statement of any kind, it's just, well I was either gonna A, throw it away, and it's mine, I can do what I want with my possessions, and I mean isn't it better to reuse things than just throwing it away?
Starting point is 00:11:25 Some will say the chicken is a no-go, but the flag is fine. But others argue that flags can hold very symbolic meanings for a large population of people such as veterans, perhaps even more so than the symbolism of a grocery store chicken that people will be eating regardless. Then others argue, just because we independently have our own views about something, does that make others morally wrong when their views are not the same, even if they're technically not hurting someone? Where does the morality end when they start hurting people or just the idea,
Starting point is 00:11:54 the concept, but who comes up with where that concept is? Side note, if you've ever had the desire to be the very annoying dinner party guest, his book is really good. It's called Righteous Mind. It's it is it filled with these questions. Yeah, and it's filled with how his students respond. And it's just I mean, it's crazy. Yeah, there's like a cockroach dilemma.
Starting point is 00:12:15 There's some there's incest dilemmas. Yeah, it even goes into how a lot of people will first. This is what he says in the book of it's interesting because when you ask people these questions about these moral dilemmas, first people will be disgusted by the moral dilemmas. And you'll see it. And one of the first things that they do to justify their disgust, because they can't, I mean, maybe someone on the street, but when you're talking to a lot of like philosophy majors,
Starting point is 00:12:42 it's hard to debate that some of these are morally wrong. Because it's just difficult. They're not hurting anyone. Nobody's finding out. It's not a statement. So what they do is they feel the disgust first, the emotion, and he says one of the first things that happens is they will find victims to justify their emotions, stating, the family who eats the pet will get sick, or they're teaching their children dangerous behaviors, or the children are exposed to diseases by eating the pet meat. He's like, who said they had children? That is so interesting. Others say, a neighbor who is a veteran is going to see the woman cutting up the flag and cleaning her toilet, and if he doesn't see that, he's going
Starting point is 00:13:20 to see it peeking out of a trash can filled with doo-doo and he's gonna be very sad because he fought for that flag Jonathan is like we never said anyone was gonna see it. In fact, I told you nobody knows that this is happening This is happening privately. So people will create victims to justify how they feel upset about a moral dilemma Which I thought was very intriguing. But that's not the point here. There are other I thought was very intriguing, but that's not the point here. There are other interesting moral dilemmas, a bit lighter. So the cockroach one, because I see that you were interested. So I'm just going to tell you about it. OK, a professor has everyone drink a sip of apple juice and all of them take a
Starting point is 00:13:57 willing sip. They saw it come out of the juice can and they take a sip. Then he announces, I have here in this container a sterilized cockroach. We bought some cockroaches from the lab supply company. The roaches were raised in a clean environment, and they have been sterilized once again in an autoclave, which heats everything so hot that no germs can survive. I'm going to dip this cockroach into the juice. Now will you take a sip?
Starting point is 00:14:20 Why or why not? No. Well, one could argue that probably dirtier things have actually been in contact with most food products sold within our country. We just don't know about it. This actually happens to be completely sterile. But the problem with moral dilemmas, and it's so interesting because they also did one that was so fascinating.
Starting point is 00:14:37 They got a group of students together, a ton of them were atheists, so they don't even believe in any sort of God or religion. And they asked, will you sign this piece of paper that I sign my soul over to this professor after my death? But if this contract is null and void, this is not a legal contract. And they have, they presented in front of the students, including the atheist students who don't believe that there's an afterlife, who don't really believe that your soul exists in any sort of form or even conceptually after death and they refuse to sign it. They refuse to sign it. Interesting.
Starting point is 00:15:11 It's interesting and it's... Would you sign it? Probably, yeah. Right, okay. Yeah, no. I don't know. No, just be safe. Yeah, I mean, just be safe.
Starting point is 00:15:22 I feel like, I mean, you would want a lawyer to look over it. No At least maybe I would probably be peer pressured into signing it though Yeah, would you sign it? No, you wouldn't No, that's so interesting because you're not particularly religious or superstitious or But I know it will bother you so it's just whatever So the problem with some moral dilemmas is that once you find an answer to the first moral dilemma It leads to another moral dilemma and then another one until you're basically in this black hole of moral dilemmas
Starting point is 00:16:02 And that is today's case of Uncle Red. This case has led to at least 15 different conversations and debates about the morality of not just the case itself, but also the internet's reaction to the case. And it feels like a black hole that we're about to get stuck in. So at first glance, there is this list. The list looks like
Starting point is 00:16:25 the top 10 list of men from the city of Nanjing. It's just a collage of 10 guys, a close-up of their faces, and it's ranked 1 through 10. If you see the collage, it's confusing because it has a little phrase accompanying each blurry photo of a man. Number one says might as well guy. Two, Four Seasons guy. Three, Uncle Red Note Dreamboat. Four, Half Bottle of Oil guy. Five, TikTok Influencer Sleep Early guy.
Starting point is 00:16:57 Six, Muscle Man. Seven, Watermelon Guy. Number eight, The Milk Guy. Number nine, Black Leather Jacket Guy, number 10, Sister-in-law Guy. Michelle's fiancee, and Michelle is a pseudonym, is Black Leather Jacket Guy, number 9 on the top 10 list, which is kind of hard to forget for Michelle because every single day, every second of every moment, everyone in her orbit, in her social sphere, just keeps sending
Starting point is 00:17:26 her links to the collage of photos. Everyone calls your fiance the leather jacket guy. Well, I mean, her former fiance. It gets to be so much that she actually posts online. I took the video and I questioned my fiance and he went silent. I showed him the collage and currently we have notified both sides of our family. I went to the hospital to get checked for anything today, and I'm still waiting for the results. We were together for almost three years. I really believed we'd make it all the way to the altar. Both families had met, they'd gotten along, and then the uncle read story broke, and I couldn't even trust my own eyes. All the lies you told me suddenly felt hollow. I confronted him, and you just shrugged and said, let's part on good terms.
Starting point is 00:18:08 I'm sorry. As if those words could erase everything. At that moment, every bit of light I had carried for three years in my life shattered. Uncle Red, I was left wondering, what exactly was I to my fiancé? Really, Uncle Red? She posted a screenshot of a video of her fiance, well now ex-fiance, sitting in a black leather jacket sitting on the edge of someone else's bed. And that's where the top nine, like the number nine photo was pulled from. And same
Starting point is 00:18:40 with the other nine guys. They're all sitting on the same bed, or they're all standing in the same room. Michelle apparently went through Leather Jacket Guy's phone and he even had the chance to come clean. One of his friends messaged him, do you want me to tell your fiancee or are you going to? He responded, huh? I don't think that's necessary. What do you mean? You're engaged and still doing this?
Starting point is 00:19:02 You don't have shame? Netizens are commenting under Michelle's post. I'm so sorry, but Your fiance was pretty good-looking too, and I could tell this happened twice didn't it? Another one reads all I can say is he was pretty handsome. So this makes it even more confusing Others say it's actually more confusing that he's only ranked number 9 on the top 10 list. I'm so lost Another one in the top 10 list is a popular influencer on doing which is China's tick-tock His videos have gone viral in Asia at least a few times solely for the reason that he's attractive One of his videos there's just comments that now read you deserve better than uncle red
Starting point is 00:19:42 Why didn't you meet me before you met Uncle Red? So who the hell is Uncle Red? A middle-aged man allegedly catfishing straight men into coming to his house to have intimate relations, Uncle Red poses as a woman online and he will invite these straight men over and all of their intimate reactions are secretly recorded. It has been reported by many Chinese mainstream media news outlets and then later debunked by police but nobody believes it, that about 1,691 men fell victim to this illegal recording scam. Uncle Red appears to have a very strict routine prior to live streaming. it's a ritual if you will. the first is finding the palest color of foundation
Starting point is 00:20:29 readily available for human use, slathering it all over his face and pairing that uniquely with the reddest of red lipsticks, always remembering to overline his lips. it's a rather low effort minimal routine that does create kind of a striking appearance. Now, side note, the filters on Douyin are good enough that not much more is that necessary. The next step of his process includes putting on a dress shirt, a silky blouse usually, and then a long, flowy maxi skirt. He puts on a short bob, a wig, it's a wig. It goes down a little past his shoulders, he's got bangs covering his eyebrows wig, it's a wig. It goes down a little past his shoulders.
Starting point is 00:21:05 He's got bangs covering his eyebrows and it's a unique combination of design choices that are confusing, mainly because Uncle Red decides the day that he joins Douyin, he's actually going to go into making thirst traps. Really? Yeah, that's, I mean, the attire is interesting. He never wears anything provocative, ever.
Starting point is 00:21:28 And it doesn't work. At least not in the traditional sense. Uncle Red is, for three years, undoing. The mass audience has no clue who this person is. Nobody knows Uncle Red joins Doying for the purpose of getting DMs from men, which I say with respect for half the world's population. Lots of respect, lots of love. It's typically something that you can achieve even if you are aggressively doing nothing.
Starting point is 00:22:08 Naturally, Uncle Red starts getting lots of DMs from men. But like what kind of thirst trap is he posting at that point? You're going to get into that? Yeah, so the thirst traps are not thirst traps in the way that you would typically imagine. So when you think thirst traps, you're thinking about costumes and dancing. Yeah. And like lots of skin. A lot of guys are attracted to Uncle Red's softness.
Starting point is 00:22:34 It's alleged that he uses a voice change filter and he knows how to talk to guys. Sometimes he would take calls from his viewers and one male viewer, seemingly familiar with Uncle Red, already is asking, You still haven't slept yet? Uncle Red responds, I just ate lunch. How can I fall asleep? Oh, why aren't you sleeping yet? Uh, I don't know. I just haven't slept yet. Then can I ask you a question? Go ahead. What kind of question is it? It's about a man. Sure, go ahead. My husband's private part is a little longer than my middle finger. Is that normal?
Starting point is 00:23:08 That's the extent of his thirst traps. Got it. It's- that's the conversation that wins a lot of guys over for Uncle Red. Side note, Uncle Red does not appear to be married, at least not anymore. He was once married to a woman, but they divorced. He has not since remarried, nor does he have a husband. But a lot of people like the idea that this is a woman who is not intimately fulfilled by her husband.
Starting point is 00:23:34 And a lot of men wanna say, let me show you what men do. That's the thirst trap. I see. Yes, now Uncle Red also does not have a good good wig because at one point during a live stream, it does slip off his head revealing that not only does his foundation only go up to where the bangs cut off. Wait, I've seen that photo. It's only the face.
Starting point is 00:23:56 That's why, right? I mean, but it's like half the forehead. Yeah. And he just has like a very short buzz cut hairstyle, which looks perfectly fine. But even so, Uncle Red's DMs start filling up and it's rumored that Uncle Red, at least 1,691 men came to visit Uncle Red at his personal residence for intimate relations. So why is this a Rotten Mango episode? One of the first titles to come out of this incident- Well, first of all, let me tell you why it is a Rotten Mango episode,
Starting point is 00:24:24 because I've gotten hundreds of separate emails, hundreds of emails while I was so deep in the Karen Reed case and everyone is telling me about Uncle Red. And so I looked into it and I thought, okay, maybe it's not going to be the most complicated mind case because my mind was wiped and then the minute that I got into it, it's just the moral dilemma conundrum. It made my brain spin because of how many different debates were taking place online. Also just like how viral this is in on TikTok and then in all in all of Asia, like every single country, right? Like in Asia, it's crazy. Everyone's talking about this.
Starting point is 00:25:06 It's suspected that Uncle Red's bang wig, pale skin, red lipstick, maxi skirt is going to be the number one Halloween look in most Asian countries this year. That's crazy. Yeah. So one of the first titles to come out of this incident, and again, this is not me agreeing with the wording of this title, but like I said, it's important how the news is presented in this case. Nevertheless, it translated, reads, Nanjing 60 year old man with a wig and a long skirt successfully attracts over 1600 straight men. So it's a very strange title and accompanying it is a collage of a bunch of guys' faces and they don't look like mugshots considering half of them are looking down to the side
Starting point is 00:25:52 all different directions. Some of them are shirtless, others look like they're in brief flashes of pain, others look like they're in brief flashes of pleasure, but you can't really tell the difference. And it's a very weird visual to see so many random guys' faces in a collage. I mean, the background is so consistent that you have to consider that the idea that the pictures were all taken in the same place is a valid theory. And they are. All of these pictures were taken at Uncle Red's personal residence, where, like I said, almost 2,000 men have reportedly come to visit Uncle Red.
Starting point is 00:26:26 That number will later be debated, but we will get to that. For three years, nearly every single day, Uncle Red has had visitors. Livestream fan after livestream fan knocking on his door, and it's kind of difficult to pinpoint who watches Uncle Red's livestreams. I feel like if you sat at the corner of his apartment building and made bets with the elderly neighbor who sits outside on the plastic chair every day,
Starting point is 00:26:49 you would lose money because sometimes it's a younger college kid that shows up hoodie in a backpack. Other days it's a slightly older, fitness obsessed looking muscle dude in a muscle shirt. Other days it looks kind of like a nerdy English tutor. Other days it looks kinda like a nerdy English tutor. Other days it looks like a middle-aged balding man. The only reason that you would really know
Starting point is 00:27:10 that they're here to see Uncle Red is that they do not come empty-handed. The speculation online is that Uncle Red's house becomes a local legend through word of mouth. Uncle Red does social media, gets a few guys in the messages, but these guys then turn and tell all their friends you need to visit Uncle Red does social media, gets a few guys in the messages, but these guys then turn and tell all their friends you need to visit Uncle Red's house. It's basically a steal, you know, what you get and what you give. It's not even comparable.
Starting point is 00:27:33 It's basically free. All you have to do is bring a small gift, a household necessity, a bottle of peanut oil from the grocery store that's three dollars, a single watermelon, which depending on the season in Nanjing is $2 to $5. Or a packet of milk that you can get on sale, whatever. Just bring a bag of spinach if you must, which someone does. Just bring something to show gratitude for the host. And most likely what you get in return
Starting point is 00:27:58 is what netizens refer to as quote, full service. Undoubtedly, a lot of these guys find this to be a practically free exchange. I mean, a lot of these guys find this to be a practically free exchange. I mean, a lot of the stuff you can find in your own freezer. They put in zero emotional effort, no dates, no paying for dinners, no relationships, no strings attached, and they don't have to pay for the services because Uncle Red is willing to do it in exchange for a half-filled Dasani water bottle of peanut oil. In fact, a lot of streamers will barely give their top donors the time of day unless they're dropping thousands of dollars on them, let alone meet up with them in person.
Starting point is 00:28:30 But Uncle Red's fanservice, if you will, is so good that Uncle Red will take anyone in. These are how netizens are saying they think that this whole scam started, this whole crime started. Uncle Red won't even make fun of you for buying a $30 bottle of oil and taking half of it and giving Uncle Red only half the bottle of oil. Instead, Uncle Red will guide the men to the tiny thin mattress in the corner and spend about 30 minutes with them.
Starting point is 00:28:57 Now up until this point, all of this is consensual. Like these men are coming to Uncle Red's house. They're not being forced to stay there. They're not being forced to stay there. They're not being forced to partake in any intimate relations or activities. So all of this, like no part of this so far is a crime. Some of these men may have realized that the market price and what Uncle Red are offering is kind of a steal. It's a good bargain. Uncle Red's apartment is difficult to find, but even then, still a bargain,
Starting point is 00:29:27 it's a basement unit and it's dimly lit. It kind of has a bunkish feel to it, which is what netizens say. I will say it's very sparsely furnished, just a collapsible table, mini fridge, a bed, and a built-in closet with a sink next to it, and a bathroom off to the side. It's not exactly homey, but some of the guys have to turn on their phone flashlights to even find the door to Uncle Red's unit. And we know this because a lot of them are captured on the video walking in with their phone flashlight on. But it's seemingly worth it, because right when they walk in,
Starting point is 00:29:57 Uncle Red will place pink slippers in front of them. Sometimes Uncle Red will even wash fruit, cut the fruit, make small talk, make the guys feel comfortable, them. Sometimes Uncle Red will even wash fruit, cut the fruit, make small talk, make the guys feel comfortable, and then they get into the festivities for free. Well, for the price of a watermelon. But there is a saying that a lot of people use in marketing, which is if it's free, that means you are likely the product. Because in the middle of Uncle Red's apartment is a tiny little hole. And hiding inside that tiny little hole is a
Starting point is 00:30:28 hidden camera. And when these men leave, Uncle Red pulls out the SD card, starts importing the footage to go through. Even in illegal businesses, there seems to be some sort of quality control because Uncle Red will sort through the footage, cutting out the quote boring parts and the not exciting parts, trim down the hidden camera footage to just the highlights, which includes the men walking in with a grocery store gift in their hand, awkwardly saying hello, Uncle Red saying hello, hugging them,
Starting point is 00:30:55 and then the opening line for almost every single thousand plus guests is along the lines of, did you wash yourself first? Go clean yourself. They will then be escorted to the bathroom, like a stray dog, where you hear the water turn on, they rinse themselves, walk out, and there are pink slippers awaiting them.
Starting point is 00:31:14 From there, the camera captures them unzipping, receiving, and then... None of their faces are blurred. none of their identities are hidden, and Uncle Red is selling these videos, this massive collection of videos, in telegram group chats. News breaks of Uncle Red's arrest, and suddenly all of Nanjing and China are kind of going into a meltdown. The only reason I even first heard about this case, I mean I did start getting hundreds of emails, but the very first time I heard about this case my husband's sister came over and she was trying to explain the story and it looked like it was
Starting point is 00:31:51 Fundamentally changing the wiring of her brain like she was losing her mind at not only the case itself But also the Internet's reaction to the case like it was just everywhere She said you can't even go on to any Chinese social media platform without this being the main conversation. Like if you don't know Uncle Red, you don't know half the jokes people are making, you don't know what half the people are talking about. It's just it's you could post a video of your dog and in the comments there will be references to Uncle Red or jokes about Uncle Red somehow fitted in there. It's like a cultural phenomenon. The more she knows about this case the more questions questions like for one, how did uncle red even get arrested? July of 2025, a man walks into the police station in Nanjing, China to report very simply that his private private moments were
Starting point is 00:32:38 secretly recorded and they're circulating online. He knows where the videos were taken. He knows who took the video and he's going to lead the police straight to her. That's about all he says to the police. Police head to the basement unit of Uncle Red, they knock on the door and since Uncle Red was not expecting any company, Uncle Red does not have his livestream fit on and they realize, okay, this is a little confusing because the man who reported it to me said that this was a woman in a bunker type style basement unit who took these videos but now I'm looking at a middle aged man maybe it's his wife but it's not it's him they promptly arrest him and they realized that uncle red has likely made over $35,000 selling these
Starting point is 00:33:19 videos in these group chats which could explain why uncle red perhaps did not have a deep yearning to receive expensive gifts from the men that came over. The whole... Okay, this is where I again get a little bit confused by the internet reaction because I will say the selling of the videos online is reminiscent to other cases that we've covered such as Enthrum. I don't know if it compares in severity and I don't think it would be appropriate to compare the severity of certain cases. However, the business idea is similar in the sense Uncle Red will join a Telegram group chat or start one. He
Starting point is 00:33:55 will charge $20 for a video in the group chat. After spending $20, if you want to see other videos or more videos, instead of receiving further payment, Uncle Red will ask that you invite three people into the group chat that will be willing to spend $20. So it seems like a very well thought out business plan. It's a referral program for new customer acquisition, which what can only be described as Uncle Red's blooming illegal video criminal enterprise. July 5th, 2025, authorities in Nanjing released a brief statement that they have put an end to said illegal video sharing by Uncle Red. Within hours, news of this arrest starts trending, which would make sense if Uncle Red was
Starting point is 00:34:34 a famous live streamer that had just gotten arrested, but that's not the case. Because within hours, Uncle Red's arrest is at the top of the trending list. 89 separate media outlets have started reporting on the case and in just three hours 350 million people have clicked on any article regarding Uncle Red, someone that the entire country had no clue even existed two seconds ago. 300 million clicks? 350 million clicks in three hours. Whoa. Interestingly enough, this is where things get weird and controversial because people have very wild reactions to the whole case. First, people are doing the math. 1691, that's about 2,000 men gone to Uncle Red's house in three years. That's about one and a half men per day with speculative reports estimating that
Starting point is 00:35:22 there's about five terabytes of footage out there which equates to about 3,000 hours of footage that's a lot of activity and that's not him even I mean he's got to lure these men somehow so he's talking to people online let's say it takes about an hour to at least talk to someone to the point where they can come over to your house and do those intimate relations I mean that's this is like a full-time full-time job most of the videos are also the same, which depicts Uncle Red performing oral activities on the guest, and then usually, unceremoniously, Uncle Red will turn around without taking off any clothing, just lifting up the back of his maxi skirt, and then just like backing up into the man in question.
Starting point is 00:35:59 The initial reaction across China seemed to be confusion, shock, outrage, but in the city of Nanjing, it's a very different reaction. Now, this is the part where I report to you all of the internet reactions regarding Uncle Red. And again, am I saying that these are appropriate reactions to a situation like this? No, that's not at all what I'm saying. I am just here to tell you what people have been saying online, what the general consensus has been, the types of memes that have come out of this, just so you understand the full totality of this case. The initial reaction across China seemed to be a mixture of shock, rage, and confusion,
Starting point is 00:36:35 but with a lot of women, particularly on Douyin, on TikTok, that are just squinting at the collage of men's faces, praying that they don't see a boyfriend, fiance, husband, dad, whoever. Some even go online to report, hey, so I did find my dad in one of the thumbnails, and I don't know if I'm supposed to tell my mom. I need advice. Others say, okay, well, at least yours is kind of a more simple situation where you should probably tell your mom.
Starting point is 00:37:03 For me, it's different because I found my colleague. A lot of people report finding their colleague or brother or someone that's like distant enough that you definitely don't want to confront them with it. You have nobody else to talk to about it and now you're just stuck with this information. One comment reads, I was here for the drama, but then I found my brother-in-law in one of those pictures and we thought he was working, but then I found my brother-in-law in one of those pictures. And we thought he was working, but turns out he was at Uncle Red's house and he showed up with a carton of milk, so that's very awkward.
Starting point is 00:37:31 On Chinese dating apps right now, and again, is this appropriate? That's not up for me to decide, I'm just letting you know. The biggest red flag that a lot of Chinese women state is that if a man writes that they are from Nanjing, even though it's a massive city with 9 million people, they think it's inappropriate. One netizen shared her dating profile which reads, requirements for boyfriend. One, not from Nanjing. Two, must not have been to, stopped by, or traveled through Nanjing in the recent years. The comments under her post are agreeing with her, writing, yeah, I'm not gonna date Nanjing men in the foreseeable future. I'm also gonna abstain from those who have even stopped by Nanjing for work. Other netizens expressed just sudden
Starting point is 00:38:08 disinterest in men completely writing I've just been uninterested in men these days when I look at them I just feel like all of them have slept with Uncle Red. I don't know what exactly that means I don't know if it's the fact that 1691 you get it But another one writes does anyone understand my pain when I walk around Nanjing because I'm from Nanjing I just feel like every guy I see I just picture them with uncle red instantly I just look at them with the consensus being on
Starting point is 00:38:36 many Chinese platforms that the biggest diss that you can throw at someone is telling them that their husband or father is from Nanjing there have been lots of memes that have occurred from this case in this situation. I mean, you know when you travel to a new city, there is a TripAdvisor, Must Eat List on there. Well, on there, the number one Must Eat List is a 38-year-old man, which, side note, a lot of initial reports stated that Uncle Red was 60 years old. He's not 60, he's 38 years old.
Starting point is 00:39:04 But it is Must Eat 38-year-old man named Uncle Red was 60 years old. He's not 60, he's 38 years old. But it is must eat 38 year old man named Uncle Red. And then the Red Gate banquet list goes viral. People have given nicknames and created these AI videos. A lot of people have dubbed Uncle Red and again this is for if you look up this case you're gonna see a lot of these references online and I'm not saying that these are appropriate but a lot of people have dubbed Uncle Red Nanjing Zero online which I was thinking okay there has been discourse that we're going to cover in a second about perhaps there being not a enough usage of protection and things that can deter you from getting an STD. So maybe they're calling him Nanjing Zero
Starting point is 00:39:46 because they're trying to make some sort of joke or some sort of meme about him being patient zero. And he's like passing on things to other people because they're just all doing it willy-nilly, like all 2,000 of them. But I came to the very interesting conclusion that zero in China refers to bottoms. Yes. And one refers to tops.
Starting point is 00:40:06 And Tiffany and I, my sister-in-law and I had a very uncomfortable conversation where she was like, okay, so let me explain. What's funny is, so Tiffany didn't know what top and bottom means. She actually only knew what one and zero means. Yeah. So it's like you have to double translate what top and bottom means to her And then she's oh, yeah That's one and that's zero and then I had to double check that this was not like an offensive term in China
Starting point is 00:40:33 And then she was like no she was showing me these doing videos of guys who are like, oh, I'm a one and it's like thirst traps So I was like, okay It seems like a normal thing that they talk about but that that has become another meme. And there has been, aside from the chaos and discrimination, it's not even just stopping at men from Nanjing, but also fitness men. So remember the 1 through 10 ranking that there was? Those are the top 10 men that netizens find the most interesting and or appealing from Uncle Red's guest list, if you will. And they have been ranked and I just I'm not even going to go on to what it's like to rank victims of these intimate videos being leaked, but it's been done and
Starting point is 00:41:19 these have been circulating and everybody has been referencing them. Number three on the top 10 list for Uncle Red is actually a pretty famous fitness influencer on the app, Red Note. Xiao Hongxiu. Xiao Hongxiu. And it's relatively easy for netizens to connect the dots because even when he went to go see Uncle Red, he's wearing this black underarmor shirt
Starting point is 00:41:37 with a big white bull on the front and a pair of Adidas Ultraboosts that he always wears in his fitness videos and he has a very distinctive look. And after these videos leaked online, he changed one of his social media bios to just read, I've already filed a police report, my life is a mess, and I'm planning to leave Nanjing for another city. Stop sharing the leaked footage. Then ranked number two out of the ten is someone netizens have dubbed the Four Seasons man.
Starting point is 00:42:03 Because a lot of netizens after this news broke out, they actually, it's like the Barbara Streisand effect. It's what happens in a lot of crimes like this is people will go out and seek the footage afterwards. It draws more attention to said footage. And people have been piecing together who is who and what is what. And I will say some netizens do say,
Starting point is 00:42:24 we have to do this because a lot of these people are not gonna come forward. A lot of them are married, a lot of them have children, a lot of them have other partners that may not know that they're visiting Uncle Red and may wanna get tested or may not know that they're having other intimate relations. So that's kind of been one conversation of why they're scouring through the videos.
Starting point is 00:42:41 Others say it's just for fun, which is a very morally debatable dilemma that we can go down. But there is one guide called the Four Seasons Man, and it is because he has been seen in four different videos, and it's in each of the seasons. Spring, summer, fall, and winter. And you can see in his attire, in one he is wearing full on winter gear, thermal puffer jacket. summer he's wearing lighter clothes and that man is visiting Uncle Red all four seasons. Then in first place, so a lot of the 1 through 10 they're just called they're just they made the top 10 either because they're attractive like the leather jacket guy
Starting point is 00:43:16 that cheated on his fiance or because of the unique gifts that they brought i.e. watermelon man. But the number one place is i'm already here might as well and this is actually turned into a very famous phrase in lots of countries in asia. that is what this man has been dubbed online. netizens came up with this name because reportedly in the leaked video it appears that when he gets to uncle red's house he realizes that uncle red is probably an uncle. so uncle red goes by sister red online and so he gets there Uncle Red's house, he realizes that Uncle Red is probably an uncle. So Uncle Red goes by Sister Red online, and so he gets there and he's like,
Starting point is 00:43:49 "'Okay, I don't think this is Sister Red.'" So he starts confronting Uncle Red, asking, "'Are you a man or a woman? "'Are you a man or a woman?' "'And this is going to be another more dilemma "'that we're gonna go down, "'and lots of people have been having debates about it, "'but right now, pause on that.'"
Starting point is 00:44:02 He's asking, "'Are you a man or a woman? uncle red lies and says i'm a woman i'm a woman he does not believe him he's like i don't believe you so then finally uncle red tells him well i'm gonna call the police if you keep harassing me and asking me these questions and he has this moment reportedly in the video where he thinks about it he ponders it and then he decides you, you know what, I'm already here, I might as well, and the next frame of him that people, netizens have clipped from that video is of him in likely a moment of pleasure. So it's now become a meme, again, wildly inappropriate, nevertheless, I'm just reporting on what's
Starting point is 00:44:41 happened. A meme shows a screenshot of the video where you can see him pondering, looking very pensive. And then right after, right under it, it shows him looking up at the ceilings with his arms resting on his, his hands resting on his hips. And he looks like he is enjoying the moment. And it says, I'm already here. Something doesn't feel right, but might as well.
Starting point is 00:45:03 Yeah, in Chinese, likeai Dou Lai Da. Really really viral. These have gone very viral and pretty quickly everyone found out who the might as well guy even is. He works as a teacher from one of the elite Shanghai kindergartens and if you're wondering a lot of people actually travel to Nanjing to meet up with Uncle Red. Oh. Yes. So the kindergarten that he works at to go there, you have to send your child there
Starting point is 00:45:29 you have to pay $22,000 a year for kindergarten to learn how to count to I don't know 26 it cost $22,000 a year but I digress. The most appalling revelation however is that he has a wife and children. So he quickly deactivates his accounts everyone thought that he has a wife and children. So he quickly deactivates his accounts. Everyone thought that he was just gonna disappear off the internet, focus on his personal life. But now, not long after, a new doing account pops up with who only netizens can describe
Starting point is 00:45:55 as being the doppelganger of this man posting workout videos in the similar fashion of the Might As Well guy before he deactivated his account. So comments start questioning him. Hey, did you, you know, just delete your old account and start a new one with a fake name? He has since vehemently denied it, stating that you must have the wrong guy. Which the comments read, dude it's totally you. Same shoes, same tank top, same everything.
Starting point is 00:46:21 Way too recognizable. You got the same height, same build, same everything, way too recognizable, you got the same height, same build, same everything. He too has a bit of a buff build and typically liked to post his workout selfies and shirtless photos on social media before everything blew up, which has now cemented this joke in a lot of netizens' minds
Starting point is 00:46:37 that if you post shirtless workout selfies, then you remind everyone of Uncle Red's type, which are young buff dudes. So now under random fitness influencers videos, there are comments that read, hold on, hold on, let me check my dictionary first. And the new term dictionary means the collage of men from Nanjing.
Starting point is 00:46:57 Like a thousand men pictures. Another one reads, please put your shirt back on, we're not in the mood these days. Another one reads, show this to Uncle Red, you're his type. Another one says, What number are you for Uncle Red? Another says, Brother, please stop showing off,
Starting point is 00:47:11 everyone is trying to find out which one you look like. Another reads, Either put your shirt on first, currently we feel nothing, the moment we see someone flexing muscles, all we can think about is whether or not you have kissed Uncle Red. Or another one that simply states, Let's not talk about whether or not you are popular, first you need to tell us if you've been to nanjing. to which some netizens find the whole social discourse very confusing and they comment
Starting point is 00:47:32 imagine being a fitness guru right now. they write quote, overnight the thirst trap men watch their skies fall down. it's said that if you post fitness content and you're from Nanjing, you're almost obligated to add in your bio, have never seen red uncle. so example there is an online user a fitness guru from Nanjing called chestnut loves spinach that was his username. now it's chestnut loves spinach parentheses I swear I've never seen uncle red. and parentheses. so it's become a huge thing and people are still making memes out of it. so there's become a huge thing and people are still making memes out of it. so there's this one incident including a foreigner and that incident has since gone viral because when uncle red sees his private parts, uncle red
Starting point is 00:48:16 it's just interestingly the amount of discourse that has occurred from this case is vast and it's vastly different depending on where you look. so for these people they're saying this is almost like a social experiment and we should treat it as such. and a lot of netizens have psychoanalyzed each video and each reaction to uncle red's video. so for example when this foreigner walks in people say uncle red has finally solved the debate of if size matters. because uncle red puts both of his hands out gasping and says, whoa, it's huge. And after they were done, Uncle Red paid him $14
Starting point is 00:48:53 for the experience. Uncle Red pays him. And the netizens state that even the foreigner looks confused and doesn't really appear to know what to do with the cash, with the $14. And then just to add more complexity to things, there are now AI videos that depict industry leaders visiting Uncle Red, including Jensen Huang of Nvidia, coming and giving Uncle Red. I think it has to do with the fact that Jensen Huang, tech founder, has an obsession with
Starting point is 00:49:22 black leather jackets, which happened to be from Tom Ford and probably cost lots of money but that's like his Achilles heel and it made him one of the more viral AI Uncle Red parodies in China where he's coming to Uncle Red and giving him like an Nvidia chip. Trump is also one of the AI videos. people have created Lego sets for Uncle Red's place which shows Uncle Red and men having intimate relations and a line of people waiting outside waiting to get in. some of them are holding watermelons, bottles of oil. some netizens comment it's not the most realistic stating that there's too much oil because a lot of these guys would only bring half the
Starting point is 00:50:02 container of oil. yeah. others point to the pink slippers and they've made memes of this pink slippers with zoomed in pictures of it saying, no one feels sorry for the slipper. it has been worn by over a thousand people. others have gone to recreate Uncle Red's quote iconic look by donning a wig with bangs, throwing on a mask, silky blouse, and a long skirt. And I will say, you know what this discourse is reminiscent of? And I don't know, again, I'm not comparing severity. I'm just comparing crime happens discourse that is so big and almost all on the same level of dark humor.
Starting point is 00:50:40 It reminds me of all the baby oil jokes. Where it's like the discourse is almost bigger than the case itself, and it's generally on the hee hee ha ha side, and not the I'm gonna take this seriously side. So that's kind of what it's reminiscent of. So you have people recreating Uncle Red's iconic look, that's what they call it, by throwing on a mask,
Starting point is 00:51:01 silky blouse, long skirt. There are fashion tutorials on how to achieve Uncle Red's makeup. Some clubs have even started adopting the Uncle Red memes with giant screens inside the club that read, anyone who is late with their round dodges their shot or doesn't focus on drinking is going to be sent straight to Uncle Red's house. That's what it says. People have then created AI videos of Uncle Red teaching girls how to get men. There's just been a lot of reports and discourse and online conversations about the fact that Uncle
Starting point is 00:51:36 Red was able to get so many men to come visit them. And in one video, according to reports, a foreigner is using an app. So foreigners will come, Uncle Red will use a translation app to even talk to them. There is nothing barring any guests from coming in and having intimate relations with Uncle Red. Uncle Red seems to be open to anybody. And they will be using this app to translate the conversation.
Starting point is 00:52:00 And at one point, the foreigner pushes the phone towards Uncle Red, who is talking into the phone near the foreigner's face and netizens believe that Uncle Red has very bad breath because the foreigner keeps looking away sneaking in breaths of fresh air and at one point he just straight-up covers his nose with his hand But the main comment reads the way he's gagging and covering his mouth when Uncle Red is talking to which the next comment reads But he still didn't leave And that is where the nickname that uncle red is an absolute manslayer comes about and a lot of memes have spurred from the fact that netizens joke Uncle Red is eating better than them. They state that a lot
Starting point is 00:52:51 of the men showing up to Uncle Red's apartment are young good-looking well- built guys that have a lot of people- a lot of people would have dated them so why did they find Uncle Red instead of them? That's a huge conversation being thrown out. A new meme is where uncle red is using his tongue to try and pick out food that is stuck in between his teeth, and the words across the meme are, i'm eating better than you sister. so people start creating these ai videos of uncle red giving lectures, dating advice to women on how to capture quote good quality men with the AI video showing someone who kind of Appears to be Uncle Red in the same apartment saying things such as today
Starting point is 00:53:31 I'm going to teach all my sisters how to get high quality household goods first of all to get a man I don't want a house or a car or dowry one watermelon a packet of napkins or half a bottle of peanut oil is enough For me, so don't be a gold digger, this is very important. Secondly, you have to give men a lot of emotional support, increase their confidence, that is a skill every smart woman should have. Third, you have to be proactive and make the first move. But the truth of the matter is, no matter how good-looking a guy is, when he is hungry, he will still eat trash.
Starting point is 00:54:02 Unless he's very rich, then he will only eat Michelin star food. Sisters, follow Uncle Red to learn more. It's never too late to learn. Another Uncle Red lesson reads, Uncle Red teaches that attracting a man doesn't require thirst traps. A face mask, long skirt, long sleeves, and bangs are sufficient. Some netizens have called this a Black Mirror episode in real life. Others have called it a real life study. studying what? we're not entirely sure yet, but a study of something. if you go through Chinese social media, there are
Starting point is 00:54:31 pages of threads and threads of online netizens breaking down different types of discourse that is spurring because of the Uncle Red situation. one of them is breaking down the types of gifts that were brought to Uncle Red's house by these men and Uncle Red's reaction to these gifts. Some think that Uncle Red's always positive, always thankful reaction is the most intriguing part of this. Others think that the gifts that these men choose willingly is more insight on the psyche of humankind. They break it down. Some men have come empty-handed.
Starting point is 00:55:03 It's been reported that Uncle Red never specifically demands anything to be brought to him, but these men bring stuff out of courtesy and it's kind of awkward to go empty handed. However, some men do. The others, all of these gifts are just like random household necessities that range from food products, like a single watermelon, packets of milk.
Starting point is 00:55:22 I mean, you would think that some of these netizens analyzing the gifts are doing dissertations, myself included, I guess, dissertations on this topic because they've broken down the types of milk that were gifted to Uncle Red. Milk is one of the more popular gifts, and almost every single time, all these men picked out the cheapest milk,
Starting point is 00:55:40 the cheapest brand of milk, the cheapest type of milk, the cheapest kind of milk, the cheapest, cheapest, cheapest milk. There's one brand in China that is known for having milk that is cheaper than a bottle of water. A bottle of milk is cheaper than a bottle of water. That's the brand that almost all of them went with. Kind of alarming. Yeah. The milk was still considered a top tier gift on the gift analysis hierarchy, with tissue paper being on the lower end. almost all the men that brought tissue paper would bring like a small packet of tissue paper like a three pack little kleenex
Starting point is 00:56:11 packet but they would buy the cheapest one ply tissue paper that if you were to try and wipe water off your hand it would stick to your hand and disintegrate into white fluff all over your hand. how do netizens know this? a mixture of personal experience and according to some netizens who have personally viewed the illegal footage they state that after one man gifted the one ply tissue paper another man came over and used it to wipe their private parts but the tissue paper disintegrated leaving tens of little pieces of tissue paper on their private parts and it is reported that this man spent quite a bit of time dusting it off of himself while uncle red just stood there watching and waiting. Another man brought a bag of
Starting point is 00:56:47 fruit for Uncle Red but apparently on the way on the journey on the trek to finding Uncle Red's place he got so hungry that he ate half of the fruit. Like what do you mean ate half like half a watermelon type of half or just like a bag of apple? He ate half a bag. But the top tier gift, the most expensive gift being cooking oil. One man was so stingy that he bought a bottle of cooking oil and he decided that he wasn't gonna give Uncle Red all of the cooking oil so he got a Dasani water bottle, filled that up with cooking oil and brought the Dasani water bottle of cooking oil to Uncle Red's house. Or it could just be leftover oil that he has at home.
Starting point is 00:57:22 Yeah. Another man brought one of the more valuable gifts some netizens have argued, it's almost heartfelt, which is a fish. A fish that the man caught himself. Uncooked, still attached to the fishing wire, just like a live fish from the river. And Uncle Red's response in his soft voice was an encouraging, wow, you were able to catch such a big fish. Some joke that by this rate after three years, wow, you were able to catch such a big fish. Some joke that by this rate after three years,
Starting point is 00:57:48 Uncle Red should be able to open up his own grocery store and people have created memes of Photoshopped images of Uncle Red in his own grocery store. It is to the point where people say if you're a Nanjing local, it's best not to walk around with a single lone watermelon, a carton of milk or a bottle of oil. And that has also led to a lot of deep analysis on the men.
Starting point is 00:58:09 There have been like, okay, so the moral dilemma, it's tenfold. So first of all, the moral dilemma is, is this an appropriate reaction that the internet and society can have to a situation like this? Where everything is okay, up until Uncle Red illegally films these without consent and then releases them online. Clearly, that's a very bad crime. These men are ultimately victims, but is it okay to have this type of reaction?
Starting point is 00:58:34 That's the first moral dilemma. The second moral dilemma comes in the fight of a lot of guys and women are fighting in the comments section. So a lot of girls, they are making jokes about this case. And they're saying, you know what, because I feel like there are lots of crimes against women where men make jokes about it. I mean, take the Diddy baby oil situation, for example. Lots of jokes are being made. And so why do we have to suddenly be so sensitive when nobody is sensitive towards crimes against women?
Starting point is 00:59:05 And so it's been like this back and forth, almost like a mini gender war at times. It's been really intense. And then there's also been conversations of why did all these men even go to Uncle Red's house? A lot of men have decided to take this as a teaching moment for women. And they are telling women it's because Uncle Red
Starting point is 00:59:26 gives off energy where he will support men. And it's because all of these feminist gold diggers are just looking for Lamborghinis and not cooking oil. It's why women can't get any of these young straight men and Uncle Red is getting all of them. And that's become a whole conversation itself. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I saw one.
Starting point is 00:59:49 It was like a guy, like the girlfriend was like, I want a new iPhone. And then he flashed back to Uncle Red. Yeah. Only wanting a Apple. Yeah. So one netizen breaks it down of Uncle Red's allure. And he says, Uncle Red's videos actually sneak in a whole crash course on how to treat men The second a guy walks in through the door Uncle Red greets him like an old friend not with a stuck-up like what do you want?
Starting point is 01:00:14 Why are you here face? Which like I don't know anyone who does that but okay a second Yeah, the apartment is decent at best best but it feels cozy like a home. Three, he even washes fruit, hands it over. Even for a casual fling, he gets treated like an honorable guest at Uncle Red's. Four, he takes charge to initiate physical conduct instead of just laying there like a dead starfish. He's fully engaged. Five, when a couple of guys get overwhelmed and get performance anxiety down there, Uncle
Starting point is 01:00:44 Red doesn't roll his eyes or pile on pressure, he eases the awkwardness and gets them back in the game. Six, he has thick lips. One netizen agrees, saying, Uncle Red has proved to women that men are not actually picky. But a lot of women have a lot of things to say about that, obviously, with one comment reading I want to thank Uncle Red for getting rid of so many red flags for us and they're not even talking about the men in the videos they're talking about people saying things like this about Uncle Red so it's become another moral dilemma one netizen even comments his voice is gentler than 80% of Chinese women which I'm telling you Chinese women had a field day with that comment. Another one comments, Uncle Red reflects the emptiness in the Chinese man's heart. Their
Starting point is 01:01:29 wives are too fierce. At least Uncle Red is submissive. And then another group of men are just fully outraged that women are not outraged at this situation because the victims are men. Stating that women would have been more outraged had the victims been women. And women are agreeing saying, yeah. But when have you been outraged last time? The list of victims were women. Like men are never outraged. It's women being outraged for women
Starting point is 01:01:56 and now the men are the victims, you guys go be outraged, we're tired. So that's been another whole collective discourse of like why are women being held to greater, higher standards than men? And why do we have to be the emotional outrage factor for every single crime that's ever been committed if men don't do the same for women? So that's been a conversation. frustration that a lot of men are using this to teach their girlfriends, wives, and random internet women lessons on how to be more generous and less demanding in order to get a man.
Starting point is 01:02:33 There is also a debate online, a completely separate debate, of whether or not Uncle Red disclosing or not that he is a man to the male guests is a violation of consent or not. With people debating online if they don't know that Uncle Red is a man and they are catfished under the impression that he is a woman, is that a crime in and of itself? Or is that some sort of moral dilemma in and of itself? I think the conversation is tricky because when it comes to disclosure of genders, usually I'm on the side of people that have not had gender-affirming surgery will usually, for their own safety, disclose to their partners prior to intimacy,
Starting point is 01:03:11 and also because they even state preference for certain equipment has no correlation to any sort of homophobia, transphobia. Like sometimes you're just not attracted to certain body parts. And so you wanna let them know, like, hey, I might have a body part that you're not attracted to, so let me tell you before we get started. and then as for
Starting point is 01:03:28 trans people who have had gender-affirming surgery, there's no reason to disclose if they're trans or not. that is purely a personal choice. there is no reason that they need to disclose that information just as you would not need to disclose hi i'm a cis person. it just doesn't make sense. however, uncle red is not a member of the trans community and this is clearly not a cis person. It just doesn't make sense. However, Uncle Red is not a member of the trans community, and this is clearly not a normal situation. Uncle Red's main objective here is to profit off these hidden camera videos, and side note, that's another moral dilemma of like, he's genuinely perpetuating homophobia and transphobia through this case.
Starting point is 01:04:02 So it's not good. But the fact that he's not disclosing that he's a man, I mean, it's up for debate. A lot of people are debating whether that goes against consent. Many netizens have gone through the footage and sorted these men into three different categories. The first group being a group of men that do not ask Uncle Red about his gender, likely not even thinking about it. They have intimate relations, and because of the way Uncle Red lifts up his skirt and very quickly moves things along, they may not have even
Starting point is 01:04:30 noticed anything about what equipment Uncle Red possesses down there. With some netizens arguing, just because the men don't ask doesn't make it less deceitful, some saying, well, they didn't know, so it doesn't matter, but then some are saying, maybe if it wasn't for the videos being released, because maybe if they didn't know, it didn't matter to them, they didn't ask, Uncle Red didn't tell them, and then they had these consensual intimate relations, that's fine, but then now these videos are being posted online without their consent, and then add the element that we still live in a society, especially in Asian countries where there is a lot more homophobia that can actually, I mean even in the US, still even in Western countries, that can ruin your life, that can take away your job, that can do all of these things. Does that make it less consensual because of the video element?
Starting point is 01:05:14 I mean you could go down this entire rabbit hole, black hole for like 10 years. And then you have a second group of people from the victims list where they discover that Uncle Red is a man and they don't care with a few even reciprocating oral activities. There's no debate there until you get to the illegal videos. And then you have the third group of people that have their suspicions or they straight-up ask Uncle Red like the might-as-well guy and he lies to them. There's one video where a man starts interrogating him like is that a- is that any flat-out lies Uncle Red is like don't be ridiculous you're seeing wrong and from there some of these men will run away. Uncle Red does not hold them captive but still that's not
Starting point is 01:05:54 saying much and then others are staying and just pushing through the activities. Netizens are arguing whether or not straight up lying is a violation against the men. If the answer is yes it is a violation, then the next argument dilemma is then what about the ones that continue to stay afterwards even though netizens claim that you can see on their faces that they don't believe Uncle Red. Is that still a violation against them? Is that not a violation? People are saying it's just very confusing and I think that everybody has a different opinion about this case. Some are saying you can't have these debates without bringing in the illegal filming and releasing of these videos factor because maybe if they knew the whole world was going to find out about it they would have asked. Maybe they wouldn't have stayed because maybe
Starting point is 01:06:40 they're not homophobic but they're scared of being outed. Maybe they genuinely thought that Uncle Red was a woman. Like it's very confusing. Yeah. It's like a moral conundrum, I guess, is how people describe it. And then the there is the morality of doxing the victims. So there has been a lot of debate of would this have happened if the victims were women and okay i will say one thing which is when we do a lot of research for these cases i think it's a really good conversation of like two things can be true at once i think male victims especially when it's crimes like sexual crimes especially when the perpetrator is a woman and it's a male victim, they do not get taken seriously. However, I don't think we can always say would this have happened if the woman was the victim? Because I mean there's so
Starting point is 01:07:33 many cases where women are the victims, a lot of cases where women are the victims, they're laughed at, they're mocked, nothing happens, they get injustice. So it almost makes it almost insinuates that if you're a female victim you're gonna get justice. Everyone's gonna stick up for you Which is not the case at all so I think two things can be true at once However this I might agree with because there has been a lot of social media discourse about the titles of the videos that people are Re-releasing these illegal footage Videos under so a lot of these websites have taken these videos and started
Starting point is 01:08:04 videos under. So a lot of these websites have taken these videos and started creating eye-catching titles. For example, one reads buzz cut anxious guy brother says nothing just keeps taking off his clothes looks like he's getting ready to fight another one reads milk guy knows uncle red has been working hard taking care so many people brings milk to help uncle red recover another one just reads done in a minute another one die hard fan of uncle red returns multiple times another a carton of milk and a packet of tissues in exchange for red's private time One just reads, done in a minute. Another one, die hard fan of Uncle Red returns multiple times.
Starting point is 01:08:25 Another, a carton of milk and a packet of tissues in exchange for Red's private time. Another, watermelon brother brings coolness to Uncle Red's scorching hot summer. Who wouldn't love such a thoughtful man? So some people are saying, if these were illegal videos of women that were taken without their consent, would they have been released?
Starting point is 01:08:43 But then you have some women fighting back and they're saying, actually they would have and they would have created titles like this. But what's crazy is it happens so often. It actually doesn't make the news and that's why you don't think it happens. You know, literally as we speak, there is a huge Anthro case in China
Starting point is 01:09:02 that's happening like at the same time. Oh, I do think I got some emails about that. Yeah, which like this is getting way more. Yeah. You know, everyone's talking about this. So it's like just when you think, okay, that's a good point, then someone will come and say, no, it's because you're just unaware because when it's a female victim, it happens so frequently, it doesn't really make the news unless it's a massive scale operation so it's
Starting point is 01:09:28 been this huge back and forth and one of the main topics being who defines victim like are these men victims or not because a lot of people are also saying a lot of these men they're here to take advantage of someone they're here to take advantage of Uncle Red and yeah it's consensual men, they're here to take advantage of someone. They're here to take advantage of Uncle Red. And yeah, it's consensual, but like, they're not perfect victims. Others are arguing a lot of these men got caught cheating on their wives. A lot of these men have families. A lot of these men have girlfriends, fiancés.
Starting point is 01:09:59 So are they a victim? If they came here to do something bad and then something backfires, is it karma or is it victimization? That's been a conversation online. I'm not saying that's my conversation. And some people are even saying that, OK, I will say the meme culture around this case is a lot. People have started creating anime business cards. So you know, you do like the character. It's like it gives you a rating for it's like a video game. Oh, are you talking about like Pokemon cards type of kind of, but they have it's like a thing now where you do it business style as well. So it's
Starting point is 01:10:35 almost like characters in someone's office building. Okay. And you describe their personality and you rank them by appearance, EQ, IQ, overall ratings, stuff like that. Oh, got it, got it. Like a Chinese resume, I think. Yes. They have like a bar of their skill levels. Yeah, kind of like that. But they do stars and then they have like a cartoon character that they've drawn out of these guys from the video and so for example one is nicknamed strong work smell guy Which is a term for in China where you're just overworked exhausted stressed out And you carry around this scent of work with you like you just never can escape the idea that work is very depressing and everyone
Starting point is 01:11:16 Can feel it off of you he comes over to uncle Red's house the two of them have their intimate relations He wraps up rather quickly uncle red Red asks him for $138 To which he responds, my wife has all the money if you want go ask her and then he runs off He has his own little character card and people are ranking him like one out of five stars others have described incredibly Intense psycho analysis of people's visits to Uncle Red's house with one that is in post-reading This guy never cares about hygiene and always complains a lot
Starting point is 01:11:51 He always looks guarded looks around carefully doesn't even want to wash up for Uncle Red He hates the way Uncle Red looks he only talks about how he feels and he uses and trashes so many tissues It's a blatant disregard for others and their belongings He's selfish seems to hate Uncle Red, but it's all a facade because he's come back multiple times and this is a reoccurring visitor. Then another one gets a card and his name is just character number two, Stingy Chubby Guy. It reads, came empty-handed, bargained while doing the housework, didn't cooperate well, only did part of the quote chores and left in a hurry. Another one reads fruit uncle. He's very warm and kind when he visits the elderly, parentheses
Starting point is 01:12:29 uncle red. He brings fruit and gives him a big hug to show he cares. He's also hard-working so he does the chores. When he leaves he'll even take out the trash. He's really amazing. We are also moved. Then another one. This guy has a hot temper, is very straightforward, but the contract is already signed. He's already here. He will fulfill the agreement. At least he keeps his promises. Or another one that reads, thermal pants guy. Whenever he comes in for a meeting, he wears the same brown outfit with thermal pants.
Starting point is 01:12:55 Every time he talks about the plan, he's very supportive, saying encouraging things like if you do well, you'll get a bonus. His ability is pretty sharp and he seems to enjoy discussing the plan. He shows a strong willingness to work together and collaborate. And so then you have people under these saying, is this actually appropriate to make for victims of sex crimes? And then people will fight back and comment, well are they really victims if they're cheating? If they're putting their family at risk? Because there were reports coming out stating that these men from Uncle Red's videos,
Starting point is 01:13:27 a lot of the videos, you can see sometimes that they will find certain fluids around their private parts that seem to be suspicious looking, and it seems like they have blatant disregard for their health. For their intimate health. And if they're married, if they're dating someone else, they could be spreading these things on unknowingly to people that some people on the internet believe are the true victims. Some people are saying the only victims really in this case are the wives and the girlfriends that are dating the men that are going to Uncle Red's house. It was briefly reported by the media that 11 of the men from
Starting point is 01:14:02 Uncle Red's videos were tested and positive for HIV, but the police quickly shut that down, saying that's nothing but rumors. However, they later state there are like three people that did test positive for HIV. However, it's unclear if it's connected to Uncle Red. In fact, they cannot release if Uncle Red has any sort of contagious disease, STD or HIV, because that would be a violation of his privacy which a lot of netizens are upset about because they're like a violation of his privacy he violated so many people's privacy
Starting point is 01:14:32 release that information yeah and then like you know all the people that connect a thousand six hundred people connects to thousands of people now the authorities have stated that the thousand plus number is a gross exaggeration. However, netizens don't believe the authorities. Netizens are like, I saw the pictures, I saw the videos, I'm believing the rumors. It's a lot of guys.
Starting point is 01:14:55 Maybe it's not 1600, maybe it's 1500, maybe it's 900, does it matter? It's a lot of guys. That's what netizens are saying. People are also annoyed because the government can't do anything. However, they are opening up their health center for free HIV tests. If you feel like you are in fear of contracting something.
Starting point is 01:15:14 Oh, because of this? Yes. Oh, really? Yes. Oh, wow. So they do think there could be a lot of people that needs to get checked up. Yes. Wow.
Starting point is 01:15:24 So some people have used this as checked up. Yes. Wow. So some people have used this as, see, these men are not victims. In fact, the only victims are their families that are at home or their wives and their girlfriends. Others are saying, well, they are victims because they're at risk and Uncle Red probably didn't tell them. But then the other argument is, well, they knew what they're going when they're going there. Like they're not just going there to show up, so it's just been this carnival ride loop around
Starting point is 01:15:51 of debates. Side note, some netizens also believe that this case is weeding out the not-so-bright men from the bright one. One boyfriend proudly texted his girlfriend that he bought a self-test kit at home since he had recently gone on a business trip to Nanjing and he proudly stated that he tested negative and he was very proud of it. He proudly stated that he tested negative and he was very proud of himself for thinking ahead and his girlfriend's response was obviously very cold and detached and he says you're so cold I'm safe baby are you not happy to which netizens think this is the epitome of an empty mind that was probably up to no good with one comment reading a business trip so frightened you took a test immediately
Starting point is 01:16:31 if he didn't cheat on this business trip why would he need to take a test to begin with it's not like you catch it through the air wow the girlfriend posted to that yeah wow and with this hiv scare that's happening a lot of people in the people in the LGBTQIA community are upset because it's like, again, are we really going to do this again? Where we are creating these homophobic, fear-based situations of the correlation between gay men and HIV and it's just I can see how infuriating that is specifically because I do think Uncle Red got off on duping straight men into believing that he was a woman. I think that was also part of the quote allure for selling these videos. I think the people that were purchasing these videos that was a huge element. So it's very annoying. There have also been conversations on whether or not
Starting point is 01:17:30 this is a comparable situation to Bonnie Blue. Bonnie Blue, if you don't know, is, I think she's based in the UK. Is she British? I'm not sure, but she's an OnlyFans model who recently broke the record of sleeping with like a thousand men in 12 hours in a day. A thousand men.
Starting point is 01:17:47 And she got a lot of hate. I mean, it made news internationally. People hated her. Versus Uncle Red, I think he's almost become a meme to the point where I don't think people hate him per se, they just make fun of him. I don't think there's this like deep-rooted, I despise you, you're setting humanity back, whereas that was the case with Bonnie Blue. And there has been this debate of, wait, why is a woman who does it consensually with men that are consensual, with men that know everything
Starting point is 01:18:18 about her, and she's very proactive about STD health and preventing STDs, why does she get hate but this man who's doing it is almost become a legend? So there's that conversation and it's just I mean then a lot of guys come in and they're arguing oh well you know why it's because in Bonnie Blue's situation the real victim are women because women feel like she's perpetuating negative stereotypes about women and creating this stigma that women should be open and available for men and are obsessed with just like anyone on the street, whereas in Uncle Red's situation, he's only victimizing men,
Starting point is 01:18:58 and so these men are saying, that's why women don't care, and that's why the world hates Bonnie Blue, because the ultimate victim is probably Bonnie Blue and other women and whereas for Uncle Red it's just men. But then there's been a lot of pushback on that as well. There's even been pushback on Uncle Red's name so a lot of Chinese female netizens are really upset because initially he was called Uncle Red and then people started calling him Sister Red, or like Red Auntie.
Starting point is 01:19:27 Also just for clarification, some people call it Uncle Hong, Hong, so H-O-N-G is the Chinese word for Red. Yes. That's why people call it Sister Hong, Uncle Hong, it just means Red in Chinese. And a lot of Chinese female netizens were upset, and they were stating, stop calling him sister Hong. Like there are zero women involved. This is a man's crime. Don't drag women into it.
Starting point is 01:19:51 Like this is a man targeting men, harming men. And why do we have to call him a woman? And I think it has to do with the fact that he never states that he is trying... Like there's no... It has nothing to do with the trans community. It genuinely just seems like he did this because he... It's part of the allure, it's part of the videos, it's part of maybe a kink that he has is to trick straight men. So a lot of people were upset about that in China, and they're saying, you know, it doesn't make sense why we have to make him sister Hong.
Starting point is 01:20:26 With a lot of female Chinese netizens fighting back and saying, if a woman had genuinely secretly recorded and leaked footage of her sleeping with over a thousand men, sold the footage without the men's consent, and profited money off of it, she would have been eaten alive online but Uncle Red has become a meme. So this is not a woman. Like this is Uncle Red. He's never identified as a woman outside of committing these crimes. So what are we doing here? That's been a huge argument. Others are arguing Uncle Red did nothing wrong, except for the videos. They're saying having sex with men is not wrong as a man. And everyone's like, wait, but we know that.
Starting point is 01:21:08 So that's just been like a weird conversation, but some people are commenting justice for Uncle Red. He did nothing wrong. Those men wanted it. I mean, I think that has a deeper meaning than just the words on the screen though, because those men wanted it. That sounds like a play on when female victims want it. With one isn't also writing I think apart from the secret filming and cheating there is nothing to criticize
Starting point is 01:21:30 There's nothing wrong with being gay being bi, but there's nothing wrong with dating or hooking up There's nothing wrong with liking uncle Red's appearance either which a lot of people are like well now You're just boiling it down to this like random argument that everybody already knows It's like of course nothing's wrong with being gay We already knew that but this is like a really weird's like, of course nothing's wrong with being gay. We already knew that. But this is like a really weird situation to be like, there's nothing wrong with being gay. When everyone's like, yeah,
Starting point is 01:21:51 we know there's nothing wrong with being gay. You're the weird one for thinking, this is your coming out moment of like, there's nothing wrong with being gay. We've been there, we all know. Did you just catch up? So there's been that argument of people fighting back and forth. And then some some people are saying people who are saying that are just
Starting point is 01:22:07 Trying so hard to be woke that they're like no no guys This is a victimless crime and then some people it's just been such a fight There have also been some memes that some people find funny some people will find very offensive But some netizens have gone on to Photoshop Uncle Red's face onto Buddha statues. Oh yeah. The Buddha statue that depicts Uncle Red standing resting both feet on the heads of two young men, and in one hand is a watermelon, in the other hand is a bottle of oil. Others are making cakes of Uncle Red's face with words that read,
Starting point is 01:22:40 I wish you have 1,691 men pursuing you this new year. It's supposed to be a celebratory cake. And so people are like, that is crazy that this is happening. And it just seems like the deeper that you go in, if you pass like the first layer of memes and people joking around, it becomes this black hole of moral dilemmas and arguments, and it seems like no one seems to agree on any aspect. it seems like at some point, people start diverging in their thoughts and their moral opinions of like, okay, well maybe some people think it's okay up until this point,
Starting point is 01:23:18 some people are like, it isn't okay up until this point, and it just goes on and on. what are your thoughts though? side note uncle red is if sentenced which he likely will be he will probably spend at least 10 years in prison if not more considering how strict the justice system is in China but what are your thoughts? let me know in the comments and stay

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