Mao Xingyun is a very little known name inside/outside China videogame circle. On december 13th, the news he died on December 11th started circulating on Chinese social media, along with a Weibo post he wrote in 2013 about his dream.
According to Baidu Baike (Chinese version of wikipedia), he was a famous IT blogger in China, had published two books on programming, and was a Lead Engine Programmer for Tencent game studio. Baidu Baike and Tencent claimed he died of an accident, however, internet rumours say he had depression and was checked in a hospital at one time. Some says he commited suicide by jumping from a building.
His bio from his social media presence highlights his internet nickname, “Shallow Ink” (in Chinese, ink refers to writers) to find him, he is a Microsoft MVP, and author of the book “Windows Games Programming from Scratch”. 
The Weibo post from 2013 about his dream is what people talk about the most (Rough translation):
I have a dream, one day, the “Journey to the West” can come out of the action game genre, fighting Gods and killing Buddhas, which would definitely bring more sensation than "God of War". I have a dream, one day, Shanghai can produce our own sandbox games, instead of playing "GTA" to feel the American dreams, or playing "Bloodless" to experience the "Chinese culture" imposed on us by foreign companies. I have a dream that one day, many AAA masterpieces will not need sinicization because they are our own games. Domestic production will not fall, the Single-Player Game will always survive.
He grew up in an era of rising internet technology in China, but his short life and dream crashed in Xi’s time. On the history and current situation of video games in China, there is a wikipedia entry dedicated to this topic . In particular, since 2018, there has been a crack down on the game industry, starting with license freezes for companies to release games. This year, the government imposed youth gaming restrictions requirement on the gaming companies.
China enforcing a zero COVID policy is well-known. Multiple cities have been put in lockdown from time to time. Once in a while, social media leaks a few stories here and there. Today, we are covering some very positive spin from official state media.
In March this year, CCTV reported that 200 millions of people CHOOSE flexible employment for freedom of work time and higher income, so “flexible employees” become the new “unemployed”.
Chinese social media was full of mockery of the newly invented term back then, because in official language, when you lost your job, you simply became a start-up owner or a flexible employee. There is no unemployment in China.
However, lately, a China Daily story highlighted that the legal status of flexible employment is not that clear. In this story, China Daily, the official mouth piece for CCP is reporting about “flexible employee” Mr. Lin Qiang, a 39-years old, living in northern city of Shen Yang, is currently holding three jobs: during the day, he drives a Didi (Chinese version of Uber)-like taxi; then from 17:30 to 21:30pm, he is a delivery man. In addition, whenever he get called and offered a contract, he will install bathroom or become a temporary salesperson.
But he could not relax and be happy because he was worried about the legality of his 3 flexible contracts. Lucky for him, just last month, the officials of the local “human society department” came to the delivery company he was working at, bringing many gifts to him and a dozen other delivery men, informing them that the city of Shen Yang has issued new policies to protect their rights to work flexibly. So now Mr. Lin is full of hope for his life, which is the title of the article.
China Daily opens its article with: (rough translation)
This year, the public's sense of income has increased: stable employment policies are implemented, the employment channels of the workers continue to be broaden, rights and interests become more secure; regular help mechanism becomes more perfect, safety net for the people living in difficulty is more vigorous; the construction of elderly services system is increasingly advanced, the services that majority of elderly people enjoy become more refined... ...Today we are launching a series of reports "this year, we get a sense of fullness", let's listen to everyone telling their own story of happiness.
Don’t worry if you find it hard to understand, because the Chinese jargon is mysterious to us Chinese too, but the main point is the happiness.
Meanwhile, on social media, documents allegedly showing massive layoffs by internet companies are being circulated. No worry, more happy flexible employees will tell their story of happiness to China Daily.