Record breaking flooding is devastating China.
Leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.
In parts of China, once busy streets have been turned into rivers
Entire villages have been washed away
With people left swimming for their lives.
Even after the waters recede, the devastation lingers
This is some of the worst flooding seen in over a hundred years.
And I got to say, Buddy, i don’t think that squeegee is going to work
Welcome to China Uncensored, I’m Chris Chappell.
The floods in China have been devastating. But it’s also left many people asking—
Where is Xi Jinping?
That’s right, Chinese leader Xi Jinping hasn’t been seen by the public
since July 31, at this military promotion ceremony in Beijing.
As of this recording, no one actually knows where Xi Jinping is.
Now this is strange. There’s always been a tradition of top CCP leaders
showing up to disaster areas as performative propaganda stunts. Even though they do nothing,
state media would take a bunch of photos of the dear leader on the
front lines and run stories about how much they care for the common people.
During massive floods In 1998, former leader Jiang Zemin was photographed by state media, saying he
was consoling rescuers and those affected. Here’s Hu Jintao supposedly helping rescue
workers unload relief supplies in a province hit by bad weather.
And his premier Wen Jiabao shedding tears visiting Sichuan province in
the aftermath of a disastrous earthquake.
You know a lot of kids died because officials skimmed off money meant
for construction materials for schools. The government buildings didn’t collapse though!
Because here’s the thing—Communist Party officials don’t actually care about the
people. That’s because they don’t vote. Officials aren’t beholden to the people.
But they used to at least put on a show that they cared.
It seems Xi Jinping has given up on even that.
Official media puts Xi at the center of disaster relief.
Premier Li Qiang said in a recent meeting,
“President Xi has always been concerned about the people affected by disasters everywhere.”
And "[He] has been giving important instructions and
personally deployed and directed the response."
But he hasn’t traveled to any of the flood regions. So where is he? Well we do have an idea.
Here, at the beautiful seaside resort of Beidaihe.
That’s where a yearly seaside vacation of
top Communist officials happens and Reuters reports Xi might be there.
Ahhh, Communism. Some people are more equal than others.
Actually I take that back.
Everyone’s enjoying some views of the sea now.
But Xi isn’t relaxing. He’s in a life or death power struggle to maintain
control. Since the Chinese people don't vote for him,
its these Communist power struggles that really matter to him.
That's why the last time we saw him publicly was that military promotion
Because he’s making top generals disappear amid yet another brutal purge.
And that’s why hanging out with other top Communist officials at
the politically very important seaside retreat at Beidaihe is more important
Than offering support to the Chinese people.
But Xi Jinping may have seriously miscalculated. And it could cost him big time.
I’ll tell you more after this quick break.
Welcome back.
So while Xi Jinping is trying to smooth things over within the Chinese Communist Party
The flooding has pushed Chinese people to the brink.
Remember, it wasn’t long ago that Xi Jinping’s botched Zero Covid policy had Chinese people
protesting en masse in the streets calling for Xi Jinping and the Communist Party to step down.
And people are protesting again.
The Chinese Communist Party purposefully flooded nearby
towns to save Beijing, the seat of the Party.
Anger Builds in Towns Deliberately Flooded, in Part, to Save Beijing
Again, people don’t vote for top Party leadership
and it shows. But the people are making their voices heard.
A rare moment of defiance in China. Angry residents on the steps of the
municipal government building in the city of Bazhou. Their sign says give me back my home,
the flood was caused by flood water discharge not by heavy rainfall.
At some point, men with police shields dispersed the crowds
I don’t think that kind of thing is going to fly much longer.
Because China’s forbidden city has now flooded for the first time since it was built 600 years ago.
That says two things. One—the ancient Chinese were better at building drainage systems than
the current regime. But two—that’s kind of one of those “Mandate of Heaven” things the
Communist Party is always afraid of. Something that makes it seem like,
maybe the Communist Party doesn’t actually have everything under control.
It doesn’t help that, while the Party purposefully floods certain towns, they put out propaganda like
this, filming rescue teams digging fake piles of sand to look like they’re doing something.
But the economic impact of these floods will plague Xi Jinping.
The floods hit what's essentially China’s breadbasket. China already
was dealing with a food crisis, this just makes famine more likely.
It could even have a global impact on food supplies.
And you know how the CCP sacrificed some cities to save Beijing. Well guess what?
That “destroyed large scale high-tech industrial parks in the area. The estimated
economic loss to the Chinese state-owned tech companies is astronomical, according
to a Chinese Communist Party internal document obtained by The Epoch Times.”
This is on top of all the other major economic problems China
is facing. Like skyrocketing youth unemployment.
But they figured out how to deal with that.
Just like they know how to handle dissatisfaction with the flood response—censorship.
The controversy over the deliberate flooding of these areas has been heavily censored on Chinese
social media and on the internet, and I might add, on CNN, we have a live camera up showing
our live feed inside China and that went to bars as you can see here, as soon as our report began.
But somehow, I have a feeling not even the Chinese Communist Party can censor this.
And it will only be a matter of time before public resentment boils over. And Xi Jinping
finds himself, and the Communist Party being washed away by a very different type of flood.
Now there’s a video I think you’d really like to see, I’ll show it to you in a moment,
but first, I got to show some love to the China Uncensored 50 Cent Army,
fans who make this show possible by supporting us on Patreon.com/chinauncensored
Just a dollar an episode is all it takes. And you can ask me whatever question you want.
Today’s comes from Fake Name, “So Chris,
have you finally caved to the 'funny expressions in thumbnail' meta?”
Fake Name, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Okay, look, I told you we’ve been working
with a YouTube expert who’s been giving us advice on how to beat the algorithm. And it works , I’m
sorry, it works. Give me a break, YouTube doesn’t even autocomplete China Uncensored
when you try to search for it. And so I soyjack on thumbnails now. May God have mercy on me.
And speaking of dealing with corrupt social media companies,
here’s the video I want to show you. It’s about how the Biden Administration got Facebook to
actively censor content they didn’t like. Click on it, you’ll love it. And click the
orange button to support us on Patreon, like my man Fake Name. If that is your real name.
Once again I’m Chris Chappell. Thanks for watching China Uncensored.