China’s lockdowns are getting worse.
But it’s not just about Covid.
It’s Xi Jinping’s final power grab.
Welcome to China Uncensored.
I’m Chris Chappell.
As the Chinese Communist Party continues its zero Covid policy, China’s lockdowns are
getting worse.
I know I say that every week, but it’s true every week.
But it’s especially bad this week, and it’s all because of China’s presitator-in-chief,
Xi Jinping . I’ll explain why later in the episode.
Shanghai is once again tightening its lockdown, despite the fact that official Covid case
numbers are falling.
The once bustling metropolis has been taken over by the only intelligent life left on
the streets.
The city belongs to them now.
I for one welcome our new feline overlords.
Chinese state-run media is trying to put a good face on things, by emphasizing how some
people in a few districts in Shanghai can go shopping at supermarkets again.
It’s such a privileged treat!
“Customers enter Carrefour in carefully controlled groups.
They are required to show their passes, ‘invitation cards’ from the store and negative nucleic
acid test results.
They have to scan a ‘location code,’ then pass temperature and mask checks…Shopping
time per group is limited to 40 minutes, with 20 minutes of disinfection before the next
group is admitted.”
Wow, what a privileged treat!
I’m not sure whether that’s better or worse than being locked in your apartment
for 40 days.
Seems like it could go either way.
In other areas of Shanghai, people were put back into a hard lockdown.
At least four districts notified residents that their apartment compounds would be going
“silent,” and wouldn’t be able to receive deliveries for several days.
People were also confined to their apartments again, no longer allowed to walk around their
apartment complex.
According to official notices, the restrictions would last until at least Wednesday, but could
be extended depending on testing results.
One journalist who was able to leave his apartment before the “silent period” began took
photos of streets that were newly walled off from the road.
Other residents took photos of completely fenced off roads outside their apartment complex.
No wonder people can’t get any deliveries.
Remember, this is all happening as cases are allegedly going down.
But things in Shanghai keep getting weirder.
More after the break.
Welcome back.
We’ve told you before about how China’s zero Covid policy isn’t really about reaching
zero Covid, because that’s impossible.
Instead they’ve changed the definition to “zero Covid at the community level,” which
means no Covid outside quarantine camps.
They wanted to reach that by mid-April, which didn’t happen.
So the new goal is to reach it by the end of May.
But they’re still having problems with that.
So the solution?
Put even more people in quarantine camps!
There have been multiple reports of a new policy where if someone tests positive for
Covid, people living on the floors above and below them will also be taken to quarantine
facilities.
They’re being quarantined even if they test negative themselves.
In other areas, people have been told their entire building would be forced to move to
quarantine camps if even one person tests positive.
That’s happening in at least several districts in Shanghai.
It’s not clear whether people who test negative get sent to the same quarantine camps as people
who test positive.
We’ve shown you the conditions in some of these camps.
Seems like a perfect place to catch Covid if you don’t already have it.
Which is why so many people are scared of being sent to quarantine.
In some cases people were told they were going to quarantine in a hotel, but were taken away
to a quarantine camp.
“They said it was a hotel quarantine, but they brought us to a quarantine camp.”
“Nothing to eat or drink, the police aren’t helping.
The district head says nothing, and is as quiet as a dead man.
Please spread this video.”
And while people are in quarantine, their apartments get “disinfected.”
I hope they didn’t want to actually eat anything that was in that fridge.
The way this is all shaking down in Shanghai is leading to a lot of frustration.
I know, what could be frustrating about being locked in your apartment, constantly being
tested, getting sent away to a camp even if you don’t have Covid, and having the rules
change suddenly all the time?
Meanwhile in Beijing, the city is not under an official lockdown.
But schools are closed, businesses in certain districts are closed, and some people aren’t
allowed to leave their apartment compounds.
Plus they’re starting to build some very familiar looking walls and fences.
But I don’t want to make it sound like Beijing is doing exactly the same thing as Shanghai.
Because Beijing gets bonus barbed wire!
It really adds something to the “this city is a prison” vibe.
But even if you don’t live in Beijing or Shanghai, China’s Zero Covid policy is coming
for you.
Because Chinese authorities are building permanent Covid testing stations.
Under the new system you would need a negative test to enter public spaces.
Some cities like Hangzhou are requiring a new test every 48 hours.
And no one is exempt.
Open wide!
At least the hippo gets a piece of watermelon afterwards.
And if anyone in China is still asking why all of this is necessary, you need to stop
asking why.
“You can’t do whatever you want—unless you’re in America.
This is China.
Listen clearly.
I don’t need to say anything else.
Stop asking me why, there is no why.
We have to adhere to national guidelines.”
Yes, in Communist China, there is no why.
Actually, there is a why.
I’ll tell you what it is after the break.
Welcome back.
Why are China’s Covid lockdowns getting even stricter, even though the official numbers
are going down?
It all comes from the top.
Last Thursday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping chaired a meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee.
That’s the group of seven most powerful officials in China.
And at that meeting, Xi made a speech that laid down the Zero Covid law: listen to the
Communist Party Central Committee.
“And unswervingly adhere to the dynamic zero-Covid policy.”
Xi Jinping also brought up the s-word: struggle.
“We will resolutely struggle against all words and deeds that distort, doubt and deny
our epidemic prevention policies.”
I’ve talked before on this show about how political struggle is how the Chinese Communist
Party stays in power.
Whether it’s struggling against the counterrevolutionaries, the rightists, the Tibetans, the Falun Gong,
the Uyghurs, you get the idea.
There’s always an enemy to struggle against.
And the latest enemy is clear: anyone who doesn’t carry out the Zero Covid policy.
So implementing Zero Covid is now a political loyalty test.
Which explains all the weird performative stuff they’re doing like walling off the
streets, and disinfecting people’s refrigerators.
Does it actually help with Zero Covid?
No!
Does it make it look like you unswervingly support Xi Jinping’s dynamic Zero Covid
policy?
Yes!
And that’s what’s important.
Xi Jinping’s speech also mentioned that “persistence is victory.”
Which is interesting because that’s a propaganda slogan that’s been used throughout the Chinese
Communist Party’s history.
But it was especially used during the Cultural Revolution.
When there was a lot of struggling against the enemy.
So this is going nowhere good.
But what can we learn from what’s happening with China’s Zero Covid policy?
It’s obvious now that Xi Jinping is 100 percent backing Zero Covid.
And it’s also clear that there was enough dissent in the Party leadership that Xi had
to call a meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee to get people in line.
Remember, resolutely struggle against any who distort, doubt or deny.
Covid is a huge political risk to Xi Jinping.
Because sometime in the next six months, Xi Jinping is making a bid for his norm-breaking
third term in power.
If the pandemic goes badly, his enemies can use that against him and prevent him from
taking power.
So Zero Covid is Xi Jinping’s final power grab.
His way of guaranteeing that the pandemic doesn’t get out of control in China before
he cements his leadership of the Party.
And if that means tens of millions of people have to spend the next six months in lockdown,
that’s a sacrifice Xi is willing to make.
After all, persistence is victory.
And now it’s time for me to answer a question from a fan of the show who supports us on
the crowdfunding website Patreon, or the exclusive social media platform Locals.
Emizrahi asks on Locals: I saw your recent episode on “Shanghai Lockdown
Nightmare: Dead man still alive.”
Is there any underground coordinated effort by the people or movement to oppose these
policies, Xi Jinping, and the CCP?
https://chinauncensored.locals.com/post/1533600/ask-chris-your-questions-here#comments
Well, there are people in China who oppose the Zero Covid policy, and have criticized
it in the past.
They haven’t gone so far as to criticize Xi Jinping or the Communist Party, because
that’s a one-way ticket to prison.
There are also people who are just scared, and angry, and fed up with the lockdowns.
There have been a few small-scale protests, but more spontaneous than coordinated.
Like this one at the Quanta factory in Shanghai, which makes MacBooks and other electronics.
A few hundred people broke out because they were afraid they were going to be put in quarantine.
As for coordinated efforts, that’s going to get a lot harder now that Xi Jinping has
told people to struggle against any who oppose Zero Covid.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens.
Thanks for your question and thanks for being a member of our Locals community.
If you haven’t joined us on Locals yet, come check it out for exclusive content like
livestreams, and perks like me answering one of your questions at the end of each episode.
Learn more at chinauncensored.locals.com.
Once again I’m Chris Chappell.
Thanks for watching this episode of China Uncensored.