Judy: Today beijing shut down
parks and museums in the city,
as the capital of China faces
its largest outbreak of covid in
6 months.
Authorities confirmed more than
28,000 cases yesterday, and the
first official covid fatalities
since may.
Those numbers might seem
-- despite some recent
adjustments, the Chinese
government maintains the
strictest covid policy in the
world.
And as Nick schifrin reports,
lockdowns that restrict the
movements of hundreds of
millions of residents, are
sparking rare public dissent.
Nick: In the southern
manufacturing hub of Guangzhou
today, beyond the closed cafes
and the pliant people who submit
to swabs, there is rage.
Last week, residents of China's
third largest city pulled down
the barriers that for nearly a
month have kept them locked
down.
They targeted the symbols of the
state that restrict their
freedom.
And in a country that punishes
protest, they confronted police,
unafraid to fight or film.
Yaqiu Wang: They wanted their
freedom.
They want their rights.
They feel it's so wrong to
confine them in this situation.
Nick: Yaqiu Wang is a senior
researcher at human rights
watch.
She says Guangzhou residents are
furious at lockdowns and testing
requirements that have prevented
them from working and even
buying food.
And the frustration is national.
Yaqiu Wang: People understand if
I go protests, I can be harassed
by the police, I can be detained
or worse, I could be imprisoned
for years.
It happened to so many people.
And people understand that.
But when you know the injustice
is too much, you know, for too
long, you just can't bear it.
Nick: Beijing's enforcers
maintain the world's strictest
covid restrictions, and try to
silence dissent -- sometimes
literally.
The policeman's foot on the neck
of a resident.
Elsewhere, they manhandled and
arrested a woman for not wearing
a mask.
And as families wail, police
drag residents to a quarantine
camp, where some have been
forced to stay for months.
Yaqiu Wang: It has created so
many human rights abuses in the
past three years.
People died because they
couldn't access a hospital to
have their family members
treated.
Nick: Earlier this month, a
father in the northwest city of
lanzhou tried to save his
3-year-old son from carbon
monoxide poisoning.
He was too late.
The father later wrote they'd
been under lockdown and building
managers refused to help because
he hadn't taken a covid test.
"If my son had been able to go
just a bit sooner to the
hospital, they would have been
able to save him."
In beijing, the city's most
populated district shuttered
shops to allow residents to
quarantine.
>> If someone in my dorm went to
quarantine, I understand that
everyone in the dorm would have
to quarantine.
Nick: Last week, students
stockpiled food.
They phased out many steps in
beijing last week.
>> Those baby steps.
Nick: This professor points out
zero covid has depressed China's
economic growth to its second
lowest level in 46 years.
Last month, worker at iPhone
maker foxconn were so scared of
appending lockdown, they scaled
fences to escape.
Apple said that delayed
shipments of the new iPhone 14.
But Chinese officials fear
lifting restrictions could lead
to the deaths of more than 1
million people.
Yanzhong huang: This worst case
scenario, you know, where you
have, you know, the upsurge of
cases, right, overwhelming the
health care system leading to
mass die off.
Nick: But are those estimates,
that worst case scenario, is
that realistic?
Yanzhong huang: The leading
public health experts, like
Zhang wenhong, like China's Dr.
Fauci, basically telling people,
you know, that this is not such
a severe disease.
Nick: And so do you believe that
XI jinping's decision not to
open up further is not a medical
one, but a political one?
Yanzhong huang: This policy,
it's so closely tied to
president XI himself, right?
Abandoning it immediately would
also potentially undermine his
personal stature.
Nick: XI jinping has rewarded
party officials who enforced
strict versions of zero covid.
So even as beijing says it wants
to minimize the economic impact,
the message is clear -- minimize
covid.
Yaqiu Wang: Beijing is saying
that I still want zero-covid,
but you should do it in a nicer
way to the local government.
But still, ultimately, beijing
wants zero-covid.
And it's not a democracy.
So they're not accountable to
the people they are governing.
So my leader told me to continue
to institute zero covid policy
and I am not accountable for my
abuses.
So the abuse is going to
continue.
Nick: And so too will the
tension between the power and
the people as long as beijing
maintains zero covid.
For "The pbs newshour," I'm Nick
schifrin.