"Mysterious Release of Pokemon Go in China (8/2/2017)"

#PokemonGO: On the morning of August 2nd 2017, Pokémon Go was released in China. Prior to this day, Pokémon go has never released due to the ban of the game.At about 8:40 AM, I discovered a Rattata, Vulpix, and Spinarak on the nearby list as the game was opened. During the month long trip at Taiyuan, China: this was the first time any sign of life was discovered on the map. The map previously had roads and buildings but there were no Pokémon, Pokestops, or Gyms.At around 8:44 AM, I discovered 2 nearby Pokestops and a Gym that were located at real life attractions in Taiyuan.Research was done on Ingress to confirm that the same 2 Pokestops spotted were at the same locations as two Ingress portals.These Pokestops could be spun and distributed items to players. The Gym was expectedly white and unclaimed.One hour passes and a level 2 Exeggutor Raid appears on that very Gym.While driving out of the neighborhood heading to the raid, a Farfetch’d suddenly appeared on the road. The coordinates for that Farfetch’d was 37°49'43.6"N 112°31'48.2"E. This data is able to help expand the hidden region of where Farfetch’d can be discovered.Along the journey towards the nearby Raid, Pokémon began to disappear from the nearby list; and shortly after, all the Gyms and Pokestops disappeared as if the game was never released again. However, there were a few issues within the game. While driving on the road, the GPS was not accurate and the map had some wrong features. However, for the most part the game seemed fine.With the game only being released for a few hours, I may even be the only player with a Farfetch’d from China. Did China unblock the game? Or did Niantic accidentally release the game? No one knows for sure why this occurred, but it was surely a mysterious few hours.Click on the texts for photosUPDATE: According to AnujKulkarni a similar situation happened in India about 3 weeks before the release. Niantic may be testing the game in China before they officially release the game soon. via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2vi1SvF