For years, students at Beijing’s most prestigious universities—including Peking, Tsinghua, and Renmin—cultivated an almost ritualisticritualistic/ˌrɪtʃuəˈlɪstɪk/L3仪式性的；奉为仪式的，指行为或习惯如同宗教仪式般固定且具有象征意义Relating to or characterized by a fixed, often symbolic pattern of behavior performed repeatedly, especially as part of a tradition or custom. obsession with the roasted legs sold by a street vendor known as “Auntie Goose Legs”; this week, however, the vendor, Chen Xiufeng, admitted in a customer group chat that the legs were actually duck, a revelationrevelation/ˌrevəˈleɪʃn/L3揭露；被揭示的真相，尤指令人惊讶或先前不为人知的事实A surprising and previously unknown fact that is made known, especially one that causes a significant change in understanding. that has upendedupended/ʌpˈendɪd/L3颠覆；彻底改变（局面、信念等），使颠倒To have completely changed or overturned a situation, belief, or system, often causing confusion or disruption. a cherished campus legend and triggered an official investigation by the Haidian District Market Supervision Administration.
The disclosure, which followed a customer complaint to local authorities, ignited a firestorm of criticism: a goose leg costs roughly 11 yuan wholesale, compared with about 5 yuan for duck, fueling accusations of deliberate misrepresentationmisrepresentation/ˌmɪsˌreprɪzenˈteɪʃn/L3虚假陈述；误导性描述，故意歪曲事实以欺骗他人The act of giving a false or misleading account of something, especially with the intention to deceive., while the hashtag #AuntieGooseLegsSellsDuckLegs amassed over 28 million views on Weibo and 18 million on Xiaohongshu, with many netizens questioning how students at elite institutions could have failed to distinguish the two for years.
Chen, a 56-year-old migrant from Lianyungang who moved to Beijing in 2000, had become an unlikely internet celebrity by 2023, parlayingparlaying/ˈpɑːrleɪɪŋ/L3（巧妙）利用（资源、机会等）转化为更大的成功或利益To skillfully use or convert something (such as a resource, opportunity, or skill) into something of greater value or success. scarcity into demand by allocating limited purchase slots to dozens of WeChat ordering groups; her fame subsequently attracted partnerships with Xiaohongshu and features in state media such as People’s Daily and CCTV, which celebrated her transformation from a street vendor into an entrepreneurial icon.
Notwithstanding her celebrity, Chen defended the nomenclature, claiming that she initially sold goose legs but switched to duck due to ingredient shortages, and that “Auntie Duck Legs” simply sounded unappealing; her son, Liang, disclosed that the family operation roasts roughly 500 duck legs daily—up to 1,000 at peak capacity—generating about 50,000 yuan ($7,000) in monthly income from a three-story commercial-residential building in Changping District, where the ground floor serves as both storefront and processing area.
Consequently, the business now faces official scrutiny, with market regulators in Haidian District having confirmed receipt of reports and promising to release preliminarypreliminary/prɪˈlɪmɪneri/L2初步的；预备的happening before the main or final part of something; first or early findings; the episode underscores the precarious nature of viral fame in China’s consumer economy, where a single misstep—or, in this case, a single mislabeled ingredient—can dismantle a carefully cultivated brand built on trust and scarcity.
