 |
| Protestors in China hold up blank pieces of paper, to protest censorship. Image source. |
Complete list is here: Index of Posts About the March 2022 Shanghai Covid Outbreak
---
So. I'm in China, and this week the protests in China have been front-page news in western news media. They are very much NOT in the news here- it's all being censored.
I have seen little bits here and there on WeChat (the social media app that everyone in China uses). Basically rumors. And it's just impossible to fact-check any rumors I read on WeChat about the protests, because the actual reality is being censored. I hate that I can't fact-check it. Like, something is going on, but I don't have reliable information on what exactly it is. Maybe half of the rumors will turn out to be totally untrue, who knows. But at least I can sort of tell you what I've heard.
So yeah, consider this a big disclaimer. I'm not directly connected to anyone involved with the protests, so I have no reliable information. Basically what I can tell you is people's general attitudes about it in China. And I feel it's important for me to at least write about that, because no I don't think western news media is giving an accurate picture of what's going on here. AT ALL.
---
Okay let's start with some links from western news media:
CNN: How a deadly fire ignited dissent over China’s zero-Covid policy (December 3) This is a good article. This one I have the least complaints about.
CNN: China’s lockdown protests: What you need to know (November 29)
BBC: China protests: Dramatic photos from across the country (November 29)
NBC News: China vows to accelerate Covid vaccinations while cracking down on protests (November 29)
The Guardian: Zero-Covid protests are spreading across China – but a violent crackdown will follow (November 28)
The Guardian: Clashes in Shanghai as protests over zero-Covid policy grip China (November 27)
Things that are true in these articles: Yes, there are protests going on. Like, a shockingly high number of protests. This typically doesn't happen in China. This is a big deal. Also, I'm sure at some of these protests, there were indeed people calling for President Xi to resign.
Things that I take issue with: Okay, it feels very weird that all these news articles report that protestors want President Xi to resign, as if that's like, the main issue. That seems a bit ridiculous to me? Like, in China we are all mad about the lockdowns- we're mad about the government not doing enough to make sure people can get medical care even in lockdown, we're mad about the difficulties in getting food and other very basic essentials while in lockdown, we're mad about the conditions at the makeshift hospitals where covid-patients get sent if the system is overrun, we're mad about not having income if we're not able to work while in lockdown, we're mad about people getting literally locked in their homes with metal fences, we're mad about lockdowns that last for an indefinite amount of time with unclear rules about when the lockdown is supposed to end, and we're mad about the censorship on social media, when people post the truth about what's happening and it get mysteriously deleted.
And then this gets reported in western media as "they want Xi Jinping to resign"...??? That doesn't really ... That's not the point.
Most Chinese people are not involved in the protests, but there is still this general attitude about being mad about these things. And, I would say, most Chinese people probably generally agree with the idea of zero-covid, but want it to be implemented in a non-****ed-up way.
Like I feel like the western media views anything about China through this lens of "the Chinese Communist Party is evil, therefore the way to solve all the problems is if the Communist Party no longer has power" and then sees a few protestors saying something along those lines, and is so happy to take that and run with it, even though that's not really what the general sentiment is here.
I saw a post on WeChat about the demands that the protestors have, and they were things like "transparency about the number of people who have died due to lockdowns" and "ending aggressive lockdowns" and "freedom of speech." Now, this is just 1 post so I can't say if it represents the views of most protestors or not- but it made a lot more sense to me than this "the communist party is the root of all evil" that western news organizations are reporting.
---
So let's talk about bias
So like I said, I see a lot of bias in the western news reporting on this. But I see a lot of bias in other places too.
I've heard some Chinese people say "These protests are caused by foreign influence- if you watch the videos, you can hear the protestors speaking Mandarin with a Hong Kong accent- these aren't even local people who are protesting." Perhaps that's true about some of the videos? I don't know, can't fact-check it. (Everything is censored! But if you are very online, you will end up seeing these videos before the powers-that-be get to them.) But I think this view wayyyy oversimplifies the situation. (I saw a comment online that said "was the Guizhou bus crash caused by foreign influence?" [This is referring to the bus crash where 27 people died on a bus taking them to quarantine in the middle of the night.] Yeah, good point there.)
And then there's the view that zero-covid is the right policy, and the problem is how the local-level governments are carrying it out. For example, it's illegal to bolt people's doors so they literally can't get out- but that is happening in some places- so the idea is that the blame for that is all on the lower-level officials who are actually doing it. The higher-level government said it's illegal, so it's not their fault. Another example: For situations where someone has a medical emergency and the hospital refuses to let them in because they don't have the right kind of covid test or whatever- well, the higher-level government said you have to still give people medical care if it's an emergency, even if they don't have the right covid test- so the blame is all on that specific hospital for not following the policy correctly.
This seems like a common problem in China- the national-level government makes the policies, and the city-level (or lower) governments are the ones who actually carry those policies out in practical terms. This is the thing about China- it's so big, so many different cities and towns with their own ways of doing things. (It's very very common to have bureaucracy headaches where you need to apply for some legal document and a friend says "oh here is the paperwork I needed to bring to apply for it" but then you find out that in your situation, when you apply for the document in a different city than your friend, the process is totally different.) And I feel there's quite a bit of distance between the official rules that the national government sets, and how those things actually work in practical terms on the ground. And the national government may or may not care if the local governments are doing shady things.
I feel like the "it's not the national government's fault that the local government did something bad" view is also not really right. Sure, the national government has a policy which says you can't do this or that inhumane thing in pursuit of your zero-covid target... but the national government also very much incentivizes local governments to get creative and cut corners and break rules. In the background there's this threat, like "if you don't get your city to zero-covid by x date, you'll lose your job"- something to that effect.
And also, if the local government does a bad thing, and people call the higher-ups and report it, will the higher-ups actually do anything? I remember during the Shanghai lockdown, some people had their doors literally blocked with metal fences, and the residents called the fire department to report it, or called the police- and sometimes the powers-that-be stepped in to get the apartment management officials in trouble for doing that, and sometimes the powers-that-be didn't care. Like if the national-level government says "it's illegal to block people's doors" but then some security guard blocks your door with a fence and a padlock, well, does it actually make any difference that it's apparently "illegal" to do that?
And one more example of bias... so this week, I've gotten a few messages from friends in the US, like "we've been reading the news about the protests in China- stay safe!" and I'm like "... we are fine here? Nothing is going on? I am on the subway going to work, just like a normal day..." Perhaps my claim that the western news media is biased and not giving an accurate picture of what's going on in China actually shows that the censoring is working. Like, this is what they want me to think! So... yeah I mean, it's true that I don't know the details about the protests. It's kind of a weird situation, where the protests are a big deal and yet the average person here doesn't really know what's going on- we just hear rumors on WeChat, and we see videos which are later mysteriously not available to watch anymore... If there's a protest but nobody hears about it, does it matter? (Well I guess that's the view that the Chinese government takes...) Just makes me feel like it's not accurate how the western news sites are acting like the whole country is in disarray, while in reality the only way Chinese people would know anything's going on is if they spend lots of time on social media.
---
But now there are big changes in the zero-covid rules
Yes, BIG changes. A bunch of Chinese cities have ended some of the covid restrictions, in ways that make it look like we're on the path to ending zero-covid. For example, in some places, it's no longer required to show a negative nucleic acid result when entering public places. Also I have heard that some covid patients are allowed to quarantine at home instead of going to the hospitals.
Some links from western news sites (also biased but these are the links I have):
MSN: Beijing, Shenzhen loosen more COVID curbs as China fine-tunes policy (December 3)
CBC: China eases 'zero Covid' rules following protests — but Xi may have painted himself into a corner (December 3)
Belfast Telegraph: China further eases Covid curbs following protests (December 3)
The Guardian: China’s easing of Covid curbs does not solve Xi Jinping’s dilemma (December 3)
OKAY LOL, I started writing this post yesterday (haven't published yet), and I had a whole paragraph about how Shanghai hasn't announced any changes like that, and the situation in Shanghai is different than other cities, etc etc etc, and now today the city of Shanghai has announced that it is no longer required to have a negative covid result when using public transportation or entering outdoor public locations like parks. So lol turns out Shanghai is following what the other cities are doing.
SHINE: Shanghai to lift PCR checks for Metro, buses, parks (December 4)
So...
WHAT IS GOING ON?
A few useful graphs:
Shanghai:
Here's the situation as reported on December 4: COVID-19 in Shanghai: 486 local infections, 53 imported cases. The part that should scare us is this: "The first seven patients tested positive in routine PCR screenings. The eighth to 11th patients visited hospitals after feeling unwell and tested positive." (And similar stats later in the article for "asymptomatic" cases.) These are people who weren't in quarantine. This means covid is out there, in Shanghai- it is NOT contained in the current small lockdowns/quarantines that Shanghai is doing right now. (The article uses the term "community transmission" for this.)
Shouldn't we be, like, concerned about that?
Here's the graph:
Yes, it's true that the vast majority of new covid cases in Shanghai are people who just arrived from other Chinese provinces. But... it's not going to stay that way, if they don't up their game on the mass testing. Like, are we ending zero-covid? Because this is what you do if you're planning to end zero-covid.
People who test positive are still taken to quarantine. Close contacts are still being quarantined. Apartment buildings are still being locked down if someone who lives there tested positive. So, the procedure for dealing with actual known covid cases hasn't changed; what's changed is the rules about how often the average person has to prove that they're covid-negative.
What is going on???
China:
And here's the graph of covid cases in China:
 |
| Graph of covid cases in China, from 2020 til now. Image source. |
That hump at the beginning (February 2020) is the Wuhan lockdown. That spike in the middle (April 2022) is the Shanghai lockdown. That big ramp up at the end is all the different cities now that are in lockdown.
During the Shanghai lockdown, we wondered if the powers-that-be were going to end zero-covid. The lockdown was so bad, we thought that surely we were near the point where we just couldn't keep this up any more. But, really, it was just Shanghai. Most other Chinese cities were fine- with covid case numbers at approximately 0.
But now it's different. Now things are going badly all over the country.
Now, I think, we're moving in the direction of ending zero-covid. Because we just can't take it any more.
I would say, the protests have made a difference.
Also, here's something suspicious: Recently there have been a bunch of articles from Chinese news sources that say "omicron is not as bad as the original strain of covid." Which... is true... but why are we suddenly talking about it now? Are they trying to pave the way for a "wow look at China's success in fighting the pandemic- and now we're all done because omicron isn't that bad. So we can stop covid-zero and everyone can agree it was a big success and China is the best."
For example:
Bloomberg: China Official Behind Strict Covid Lockdowns Softens Stance (December 1) I don't have a link to a Chinese news site with an "omicron is not that bad" article, but this Bloomberg article correctly reports that such statements are being published by the powers-that-be in China.Xinhua: COVID-19 emergency phase closer to end despite Omicron transmission: WHO (December 3)
---
And one more link:
Sixth Tone: China to Boost COVID Vaccination for the Elderly Amid Outbreak (November 30) Every few months, China makes a big deal about "okay, we should REALLY get the old people vaccinated now." Vaccination rates are still a bit low for the elderly population in China. "As of Wednesday, around 86% of those aged 60 and above had received a two-dose regimen, and 66% of those over 80 had completed the same course."
No comments:
Post a Comment