The Great Chinese Salt Rush, Part Two: ‘We Want Our Money Back’

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Shoppers look at empty shelves at a supermarket after salt sold out in Beijing on March 17, 2011.

LIU JIN / AFP / Getty Images

Some of the people who swarmed China’s supermarkets last week say they’ve been duped.

(More on Time.comChina’s Great Salt Rush: Nuke Fears Cause Supermarket Swarms)

Remember the great salt rush of China? For those who missed it, here’s a quick summary of what happened:

Following reports of radiation leaks at Fukushima’s Daiichi plant, Chinese consumers got nervous. Their rather understandable fear of radiation was compounded by doubts about their government’s willingness to share information. So they took their safety into their own hands — or tried.

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In the misinformed belief that salt would save them from nuclear fallout, people across the country purchased all the sodium they could find. Prices, of course, went through the roof, with some vendors jacking prices up 600%, the AFP reports.

Now, after the adrenaline rush of the wild salt run, people feel duped and they want their money back.

A 60-year-old Shanghai woman reportedly called the police after a store refused to refund her purchase of 50 packages of salt, bought for 300RMB ($45), snapped up in the frenzy of the moment. The store owner, unsurprisingly, refused. Talk about emotional buying.

(Via Shanghaiist)