末日抢购热 In Sichuan province, panic buying of candles has swept through two counties in the fear that an ancient Mayan prediction that the world will end on December 21 proves to be true. “Candles are selling by the hundreds, with buyers constantly coming to the market. Many stores have run out,” the owner of grocery said, “At first, we had no idea why. But then we heard someone muttering about the continuous darkness”. The source of the panic was traced to a post on Sina Weibo, predicting that there will be three days of darkness when the apocalypse arrives. Daydreaming About Last Day Since the beginning of December, the word “Mayans” has trended on Weibo as millions of normally phlegmatic Chinese speculate that the end is nigh. “If the Mayans are right, I won’t pay my credit card bill,” was one popular post. To be Charitable on Last Day A spokesman said they had handled 25 apocalypse-related cases in one 24-hour stretch. Most of the scam artists took advantage of credulous pensioners, encouraging them to hand over their savings for one last act of charity. In Shanghai, the police have had to issue a public warning about doomsday. “The end of the world is a rumour,” the police said, “Do not believe it and do not be swindled”. In Nanjing, a 54-year-old university professor’s wife took out a £100,000 mortgage on her £300,000 home, saying she would donate the money to underprivileged children, saying she hoped to “do something meaningful before the world ended”. Last month, a man in the far west province of Xinjiang made news when he spent his life savings of £100,000 to build an ark for 20 people. He said if the apocalypse failed to materialise, he would use the boat to take tourists on sightseeing tours. Family Day = Last Day In Chengdu, a web company has given its workers a tongue-in-cheek two-day break on Dec 19 and 20. “We suggest you take advantage of this ‘final’ time to spend more time with your closest family. We wish everyone a meaningful doomsday.” Foreign Carnival on Last Day In America, there was an explosion in sales of survival shelters . In France believers were preparing to converge on a mountain where they believe aliens will rescue them. The city of Novokuznetsk faced a run on salt. In Barnaul, close to the Altai Mountains, panic-buyers snapped up all the torches and Thermos flasks. Meanwhile in Mexico, where the ancient Mayan civilisation flourished, the end time has been seen as an opportunity. The country has organised hundreds of Maya-themed events, and tourism is expected to have doubled this year. |
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