Social News
Written by: Yuan Shu
2020-09-20 14:20
Last update date: 2020-09-20 14:20
The U.S. Department of Commerce announced that from Sunday (20th), downloading of the mainland communication software WeChat (WeChat international version) is prohibited.
A reporter from Hong Kong 01 called a Chinese student studying in the U.S. in the early morning of September 20th, US time (GMT+4). She is still able to use Wechat and there is no abnormality in the App Store. There has been a wave of exchanges of QQ accounts (an instant messaging software owned by Tencent) in the Chinese circle; she said that disabling Wechat may have an impact on contacting family members in the Mainland, or it may affect those who have business dealings with the Mainland (including Wechat, Daigou, etc.) People have an impact, but the impact on local life is less. "After all, there are software alternatives such as Google Chat and Hangout."
The communication and social apps commonly used by Hong Kong people, including WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, LINE, Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Twitter, Gmail, YouTube, etc., have all been banned in Mainland China.
(Photo by Lao Xianliang)
A reporter from Hong Kong 01 used WeChat video to call W, a Chinese student studying in the United States, in the early morning of American time. During the process, the WeChat signal was stable, just as usual.
W has studied in the U.S. for many years and said that 99.9% of WeChat is used in the Chinese community, or used by some people in mainland China for contact and business dealings. "Sometimes international students from other countries will download it and use it when chatting with Chinese students. use."
Chinese students exchange QQ accounts to avoid losing contact
W revealed that after the Ministry of Commerce announced the ban, there was a wave of WeChat exchanges of QQ accounts, and everyone added QQ to each other to avoid losing contact.
W said that her family is still in the mainland, so she opened the QQ that has not been used for many years a few days earlier, and added family members and Chinese friends that she contacted more often in case WeChat cannot be used.
She said that for the parents generation, it is not difficult to switch to QQ, but for the older relatives, it is somewhat difficult.
As for the future if WeChat is really unavailable at all, she said that it will have little impact on local life, especially in her laboratory. Even if she is a Chinese student, everyone is accustomed to using even communication software such as Google Chat.
She said that merchants who may have business dealings with the mainland or those engaged in the daigou business for Chinese customers will be affected. Secondly, there are also many Chinese in the United States who do small businesses for the Chinese community, such as baking cakes, etc. spread.
As for the electronic payment function of WeChat, she believes that it is not irreplaceable, "UnionPay, Alipay, etc. can be used."
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