Shanghai’s terrifying solution to stop Covid. Lockdowns spread across a quarter of China.
And you won’t believe what the Communist Party is doing now.
Welcome to China Uncensored. I’m Shelley Zhang, filling in for Chris Chappell,
who is practicing kung fu in the mountains.
Things are still bad in Shanghai.
A few days ago, we published a video looking at
whether the Chinese Communist Party’s Covid lockdowns could lead to the CCP’s downfall.
And I talked specifically about how authorities in Shanghai are enforcing
China’s “dynamic” Zero Covid policy:
Not by actually having zero Covid cases, but by sending everyone with Covid to quarantine camps.
That way they can claim there aren’t any more Covid cases in the community,
because people who get infected in quarantine camps don’t count.
Busloads of people, including babies and the elderly,
are being sent to quarantine camps at night.
On social media, a woman named Zhi Ye documented the case of her 92-year-old grandmother and her
74-year-old uncle. Authorities broke down their door at 2 am to take them to a quarantine camp,
five days after they tested positive.
Her grandma refused to go to the camp because they had both tested negative several times since then.
So they pulled her out of bed and dragged her onto the floor.
When they got to the camp, there were no beds so they spent the night sitting in the hallway.
Zhi’s posts were of course censored.
But they attracted enough attention that local authorities felt the need to issue
a statement claiming that everything was fine and the two elderly people went voluntarily.
There’s been a huge backlash to sending elderly people to these camps, where in many cases
there’s a shortage of supplies, little medical care, and sometimes not even enough bathrooms.
The backlash at least helped Zhi’s relatives, who were released from the camp
two days later after testing negative three times.
They were lucky, because it looks pretty easy to catch Covid in some of these camps.
Photos spread online this week of a Shanghai office building
that was converted into a quarantine camp.
Not a lot of social distancing here.
This is what it looks like inside.
And people in the camp say the situation is not good.
“The ‘makeshift hospital’ allegedly has no medical staff nor medical equipment,
there are no shower rooms, and even basic medication is not available.”
People also said that symptomatic and asymptomatic people are mixed together in the rooms,
and there’s not enough food and water.
It’s not surprising that what people in China are most afraid of isn’t Covid, it’s quarantine.
Which is one reason this story went viral: Six pandemic workers tried
to take a 95-year-old woman to a quarantine camp. And she fought them off with a stick.
When they finally got her to a quarantine camp, she allegedly
jumped the wall and returned to her neighborhood.
Where she was seen fighting more pandemic workers.
Maybe Chris should be learning kung fu from her.
I can’t confirm whether this story is exactly accurate.
But I can confirm that this is the Chinese Communist Party’s greatest fear:
that one day the Chinese aunties will rise up and defeat them.
Do not underestimate the aunties.
Now originally, Shanghai was supposed to reach a Covid turning point this week.
But it’s not working.
As of this recording, the official death toll in Shanghai is 25 people.
“Many residents have said, however, that a family member had died after catching
COVID-19 since early March, but cases had not been included in official statistics.”
And Covid infections are rising again, even outside quarantine camps.
Which means even in areas that are supposed to be easing up, are still locking down.
“The central district of Jingan…said it would no longer allow any residents
out of their housing compounds citing risks of large gatherings.”
The district hasn’t gotten more Covid cases, they’re just
afraid of getting more Covid cases. The same is happening in other parts of the city.
People are supposed to be allowed outside, but then they’re not.
But in the most bizarre move yet, entire communities in Shanghai seem
to be getting relocated to, in some cases, other provinces.
A notice from Communist Party officials in one Shanghai area said that residents were being moved
100 miles away, to Zhejiang province. Where they would have to stay for at least a week.
And that only Covid negative people would be able to go.
As the BBC says, it’s not clear why they’re moving people who don’t have Covid to another province.
In other areas of Shanghai, people without Covid are being moved out of their homes
so the area can be disinfected.
Apparently with lime powder. Which makes a lot of sense.
With policies like this, it’s no wonder people in Shanghai are freaking out.
More after the break.
Welcome back.
Shanghai is suffering from a weeks-long Covid lockdown.
And with factories closed and the Shanghai port at a virtual standstill,
this has also become a big threat to China’s economy. Their solution?
Stay locked down, but let key manufacturers set up production bubbles.
Basically, big factories like the Tesla Gigafactory
are going back into production, provided they operate in a
“closed-loop”. Which means workers will be eating and sleeping on the factory floor.
If you thought working from home was annoying,
try homing from work. You’re locked inside the factory 24 hours a day,
and can’t go back to your apartment until the Communist Party gives you permission.
Truly a worker’s paradise.
In Tesla’s case, people are literally sleeping
on the factory floor, because they don’t have dorms for the workers.
“Given there isn’t any purpose-built dorm, people will be required to sleep on the floor
in a designated area and there will be other spaces allocated for showering, entertainment
(both yet-to-be completed) and catering.”
Worst slumber party ever.
Not that I would know what good slumber parties are like. My parents
were first-generation immigrants. I grew up under permanent lockdown.
Tesla is one of 666 companies that the Shanghai
government has given permission to to open back up in a closed-loop bubble.
In China, 666 is supposed to be a lucky number for businesses.
But these factory bubbles sound more like hell.
And a lot of the factories are off to a slow start actually resuming work.
Supply chains are complicated. With major disruptions to shipping and trucking across
China, factories just can’t get the parts they need.
For example, Tesla workers could not resume their assembly of electric cars
because they were waiting for battery packs to be delivered.
So...the workers are basically sitting around
all day at work doing nothing. Couldn’t they just stay at home doing nothing?
In other cases, the factories might be able to open, but they don’t have
enough workers because they’re not allowed to leave their homes yet.
This whole situation sounds like a classic Chinese Communist Party
solution: announce that the economy is starting back up with huge fanfare,
while ignoring the reality that it’s not actually happening.
And for those Shanghai residents still at home, they’re also fed up with the extended lockdown.
Like I said earlier this week, some Shanghai residents are simply
refusing to take the mass Covid tests. Not so much as a political statement,
but because they’re scared of contracting Covid during the tests themselves.
But the Party has a solution to this,
too. They’ve announced that refusing or faking Covid tests can bring punishment.
They say violators can be detained for up to 10 days.
Which sounds bad...but it’s still less bad than the punishment for
testing positive, which is being sent here for two weeks or more.
You can’t effectively threaten to throw people in jail when they’re
already basically in jail—whether it’s being at a horrible quarantine camp,
or just locked inside their own tiny apartment.
The Party’s solution? Threaten EVEN MORE jail time!
They’re now saying that if someone causes an epidemic or a “severe outcome”,
they can be put behind bars for up to seven years.
The worst part though, is that they’re also threatening to
permanently demerit people’s “personal credit account” if they refuse a Covid test.
This is not your financial credit score.
It’s your social credit—the nationwide array of databases that track how
“good” or “bad” each individual is, in terms of being compliant with the Communist Party.
And if you have bad social credit, you could be prevented from getting a job,
renting an apartment, or even getting on public transit. You could also be blocked
from ever getting a passport, meaning you’ll be stuck in China forever. Now *that’s* jail time.
And it’s not just Shanghai that’s trying to implement the Zero Covid policy.
More Chinese cities are under lockdown, too.
Across China, some 373 million people, or a quarter of China’s entire population,
are under some form of movement restrictions.
The city of Xi’an is one of those places. The city has been put under a partial lockdown...
after authorities found “43 locally transmitted infections”.
People are mostly required to stay within their residential compounds,
and taxis are not allowed to leave the city—you know, in case anyone tries to escape.
Now while that might seem a bit extreme over just a few dozen cases,
Chinese state-run media want to you to know:
These restrictions in Xi’an are not a lockdown.
And residents feel the impact to their life is not as big as imagined.
Yeah, the city is basically operating normally.
Please ignore the photo we posted of a COMPLETELY EMPTY SUBWAY PLATFORM.
And now it’s time for me to answer a question from one of our viewers
who directly supports China Uncensored, either on Patreon or Locals.
This question comes from...
James Wallberg on Patreon: “Chris, Shelly, Matt, I wonder what will happen to the channel
when the CCP falls. Will you report on the transition to a different kind of government?”
Great question James. When the CCP falls, we are going to China to report on what’s going on.
Provided that it’s safe there after the aunties rise up and overthrow the CCP.
But seriously, I haven’t been to China since I was a teenager.
And I really hope I get to go back someday in the not too distant future.
And after our trip to China, we’re all going to take a vacation. A nice, long vacation.
Thanks for your question, James.
Be like James, and support China Uncensored through the crowdfunding website Patreon.
This is the main way we fund this show—because so much of our content gets demonetized by YouTube.
And when you support us, you also get to ask us questions we might answer on the show.
So check it out. The link is below.
Once again, I’m Shelley Zhang,
filling in this week until Chris gets back. Thanks for watching China Uncensored.