An old man caused a sensation on Chinese social media after a video clip emerged of him shouting at a young Chinese man in English on Beijing's subway.

First posted by a Weibo user called @ChitushaonvSelene on May 19, the old man is seen suddenly speaking English to another person opposite him. Using expletives, the elderly tells him off for his comments about his English.

The video clip has been reposted by many verified users on Sina Weibo, though the original post along with the video was deleted a day after the incident happened, according to a post by @ChitushaonvSelene.

A local Weibo account with the handle of @Beijingrenbuzhidaodebeijingshier cited @ChitushaonvSelen as saying that the old man first criticized a girl who did not offer her seat to him and then turned his anger to a young man who tried to stop the old man from scolding the girl. 

However, this story was immediately countered by another Weibo user claiming to be the pregnant woman involved in the incident. In her Weibo post, she claimed that the man started to complain about passengers in English after no one offered her a seat. She said that a passenger explained that people just did not notice her, which ignited the old man’s anger.

However, the clarification from the unsourced pregnant woman is not the finale in the disputable incident. Other people claiming to be at the scene have also shared different stories. 

“I just heard the fight from a distance of half a train car. I did not notice there was any pregnant woman until I left the train. I just know the old man kept swearing to a girl and a man. He said they were undereducated,” @ChitushaonvSelen wrote down what she knew about the incident in a post on May 20 and responded to the pregnant woman’s remarks, saying that she cannot verify the identity of the woman who professed to be the pregnant passenger involved in the incident.

@ChitushaonvSelen also stated that she does not want to be interviewed by any media sites, further clouding the veracity claims in the view of many netizens.

“[I] feel the pregnant woman was found by the old man and asked to defend for him,” @Tommy_Luk commented below the statement post by@ChitushaonvSelen.

“The pregnant woman may not be the one who was at the scene. If she had been there, why would she not have said something at that time? Anyway, swearing to others is wrong granted that that girl did not offer her seat deliberately. [The incident] also involved the innocent young man,” @Akirashock explained why he did not believe what the pregnant woman said.

“The old man was a kind-hearted man to you but he was a disaster to other passengers – shouting and insulting in public. [He] is in good shape and should have offered his seat to others,” @Zhuandaqiandezhangmingming commented below a post which was published by the pregnant woman.