Speaking of "Chinese inquiries," weird robocalls went around Louisiana State University a couple of months ago. When I and others answered the phone, a lengthy recording in Chinese (Mandarin ?) was played. When I Googled the phone number, which I suspect and told was spoofed, it belonged to the Chinese Consulate-General in Houston. I have no idea what it was all about. Whoever it was seemed to be systematically calling every phone here.

"The past is never dead. It's not even past."
William Faulkner, Act 1, Scene III, Requiem for a Nun (1951)