A Chinese woman asked the network for help with slaughtering pigs – thousands of guests came to see her

She wrote on Douyin, the Chinese version of the social network TikTok, asking for help for her family to slaughter pigs for a holiday feast. The girl promised to treat the volunteer helpers to a festive pork dinner. The post suddenly went viral, and several thousand people came to help Daidai. The BBC talks about this unique festive flash mob.

Daidai’s request for help received more than a million likes, thousands of cars poured into the village: the response was so massive that traffic jams paralyzed the roads in Chongqing province in southwest China. Columns of cars lined up among the rice fields on both sides of the road, hoping to still get to Qingfu. Some drivers left their cars and went to help the girl on foot.

One of the visiting volunteers told the BBC that the atmosphere reminded him of his childhood, when his family kept pigs. He traveled more than 100 kilometers to help Daidai and saw license plates from all over the country in the queue.

The slaughter of the pigs and the mass celebration took place and were shown live – the broadcast was watched by more than 100 thousand viewers, and it collected 20 million likes. Since there were many more guests than the girl’s family could feed, local authorities provided additional meat, and small restaurants in the area began serving crowds of visitors on street areas.

“I thought 10-12 people would come,” Daidai admitted. “But we couldn’t even count them. Daidai couldn’t believe how quickly it all happened. Last Friday, she posted a request for help. By Saturday, the response was so great that she went to the police to warn about possible disturbances in the village, and additional officers were sent there to manage the situation.

The festive feast, which by that time had become huge, lasted two days: 1,000 guests on January 11 turned into 2,000 the next day. At night, bonfires burned, there were many celebrations, and a band played.

Daidai eventually wrote that her holiday was over and asked new visitors to enjoy the region but not to come to her home. According to her, she managed to sleep only four hours in two days, and she was absolutely exhausted. However, it was an incredible moment for her and her village.