‘Tis the season to eat mandarin oranges first’

WITH Christmas yet to pass, fruit vendors will begin selling mandarin oranges soon as the first shipment is expected to arrive next week, reported Sin Chew Daily.

As Chinese New Year will fall on Jan 22, sellers have begun stocking up on the fruit this month.

Kuala Lumpur Fruits Wholesalers Association president Chin Nyuk Moy revealed that they will begin selling them beginning Dec 7.

“As long as the shipments are not delayed, you can expect to see mandarin oranges in the market earliest around Dec 7 or 8,” she told the daily.

As the shipping cost has nearly halved compared to its peak during the pandemic, Chin assured the public that they would not be eating expensive mandarin oranges this coming Chinese New Year.

However, she is expecting a lukewarm response in December before the demand will drastically increase in January.

“Right now, we will be stocking up mandarin oranges with weekly shipments just so we can meet market demand during Chinese New Year,” she said.

> Hollywood superstar Jackie Chan became a victim of fake news after a picture of him was altered to look as if he were supporting the growing protests in China, reported Sin Chew Daily.

A picture of the 68-year-old went viral online after he was seen holding up a white piece of paper – a symbolic protest against censorship adopted by angry protesters.

However, many questioned the picture’s authenticity as Chan is known to be a vehement supporter of the Communist Party of China.

“Is this really him? It’s impossible,” a netizen wrote.

It was later revealed that the picture was taken in 2016 following the Amoycan Industrial Centre fire incident when Chan held up a white piece of paper with the message that read “respect to the firefighters in the frontline”.

Internet trolls had removed the written message to make it as if Chan was supporting the current protests.

● The above article is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with this ' >'sign, it denotes a separate news item.