- [Woman] Wonderful, wonderful.
(door banging)
(police speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] This woman's door was kicked in by police
when she refused to go to quarantine.
(people speaking in foreign language)
Others in Shanghai smashed rotten vegetables
in the street
and performed so-called concerts with their pots and pans
to express their frustration
after weeks of life under lockdown
in China's most populous city
and economic capital.
(pans banging)
- We have seen a lot of emotion,
a lot of people angry,
a lot of people sad, a lot of people depressed,
a lot of people in despair.
- [Narrator] In videos that have bubbled up online,
despite censors' efforts to take them down,
acts of disobedience,
unusual for China, show new challenges
for China's authorities
as they double down their policy trying
to keep COVID-19 out of the country completely.
The city-wide lockdown began in late March
as Shanghai tackled thousands of new cases a day,
the biggest outbreak China
has seen since the pandemic began.
Some compounds had already been in lockdown before that.
- It's a city of 25 million people
and we've seen this remarkable stream
of footage come out of Shanghai,
most of it filmed by ordinary people,
amateurs on their smartphones
but they do reflect frustrations
that we've all heard from people who are living there.
- [Narrator] In one video,
a resident refused to cooperate with officials.
(woman speaking in foreign language)
(door banging)
(man speaking in foreign language)
(woman speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] The woman who filmed
and posted this video online says she tested positive
but the test needed to be reviewed.
Police eventually too her away to quarantine.
She didn't respond to requests for comment
but said in her post
that the police later fixed the door.
For weeks, Shanghai residents
have expressed frustration online,
but more protests have recently taken place
in the physical world.
(upbeat music) (crockery banging)
Synchronized banging of crockery,
dubbed The Concerts, have been organized.
This prompted the government
to accuse unspecified foreign conspirators
and warnings via WeChat and loudspeaker announcements.
(announcer speaking in foreign language)
(woman speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] One sensitive issue
that has infuriated citizens during the lockdown
has been the supply of food.
These vegetables were supposed to be distributed
to hungry families locked in their homes.
Instead, they rotted.
(people speaking in foreign language)
In this scene, people can be seen complaining
to a police officer who promises to investigate.
These videos uploaded on platforms like WeChat
and Weibo have been taken down
and re-uploaded a number of times.
Authorities have promised more food
and vowed to punish those
who have made mistakes with supplies.
At least three officials have been fired
for being slow to distribute food.
(Huang speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] These public flare-ups come
as lockdowns impact businesses large and small.
Factories for Tesla, Apple and many others
were shut down for periods of time
during the lockdown and companies warned
of disruptions to their supplies.
And while some people living and working in the city
have continued to receive a salary
from their employers,
others have been left without pay.
- It's a very visible and high-profile city.
It's a city where you have both blue collar workers.
It's home to many of the most important factories
in China producing autos
and producing a lot of other goods
that get shipped around the world.
It has the world's largest port.
You also have the white collar industries.
Shanghai is the financial center of China.
- [Narrator] After six weeks of lockdown
and a brief easing of rules for some residents
to buy groceries and medicine,
authorities in Shanghai have tightened restrictions again
even as COVID-19 cases in the city fall.
Shanghai officials have thanked residents
for their understanding and cooperation.
The head of the World Health Organization
said China should rethink its strategy
in a rare rebuke.
- When we talk about the zero COVID strategy,
we don't think that it's sustainable,
considering the behavior of the virus now
and what we anticipate in the future.
- [Narrator] Unswayed by the WHO,
China's sticking with its policy
of eradicating COVID-19 completely,
saying any relaxation of measures
could allow the virus to rebound.
(pensive music)