Shanghai (AsiaNews) - After five days and some 3,300 dead pigs, Chinese authorities have not yet figured out what happened in the Huangpu River in Shanghai. After two days, some 1,600 animals were fished out, Chinese media reported. Labels on their ears indicate they come from Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province.
The lack of information from mainstream media has prompted a wave of more or less plausible theories on social media like Sina Weibo, a Chinese micro-blogging website, many with a great twist of irony.
A popular columnist and military expert, Zhao Chu, has serious doubts about the official version of events. "When you said more than 10,000 pigs froze to death, in my opinion, you are lying. [You] must be covering something up," he posted on Sina Weibo.
In fact, Zhejiang Provincial Agricultural Department's claim that most of the pigs had died due to cold weather does not fit with the fact that average winter temperatures in Jiaxing never dipped below zero Celsius.
Most other comments about Shanghai's floating dead hogs are irreverently scathing. One Sina Weibo user posted a picture titled 'Life of Pig' in a mock movie poster based on director Ang Lee's recent blockbuster Life of Pi.
Another Weibo user jokingly provided a list of possible causes of swine deaths, including: 1. refusing to be over-fed with antibiotics, 2. refusing to inhale the polluted air, 3. starving to death from no supply of Hong Kong milk powder, 4. drowning in an attempt to drink water from Huangpu River after refusing polluted water from their owners.
Another blogger, who goes by the Zuoyeben, or homework booklet, wrote, "People's quality [of life] is on the rise. At least they did not make the dead pigs into sausages and ham."