https://archive.ph/60aoK
Anger Over Covid Lockdowns Mounts in Shanghai
Restrictions have strained nerves and livelihoods in China’s largest and
wealthiest city, eroding some residents’ trust in authorities; ‘I’ve
lost confidence in this government’
By Stella Yifan Xie and Natasha Khan
April 15, 2022 12:15 pm ET
Discontent is deepening across Shanghai, China’s largest and wealthiest
city, now several weeks into a rigid lockdown aimed at crushing a Covid
outbreak that is straining the nerves and affecting livelihoods of its
25 million residents and eroding the public’s trust in authorities.
The effects that have played out in recent weeks—food shortages, lack of
access to medical care, overcrowded quarantine centers and infants
separated from their parents—have frayed nerves across a city that has
long prided itself as a pragmatic financial hub at the forefront of
China’s decadeslong shift to a market economy.
“I’ve lost confidence in this government,” said one 36-year-old Shanghai
native surnamed Chen, who declined to provide his given name because it
remains risky to openly criticize political leaders. “Only during a
crisis can you make a proper evaluation of the government’s performance.”
Mr. Chen, who has been confined at home for more than a month, said he
hasn’t been able to feed his family of four on the government-supplied
rations of vegetables and milk. While he has managed to order some
groceries online, soaring prices and scarce supplies of bread and other
essentials risk draining his savings as the lockdown drags on, he said.
“We’ve waited patiently for the lockdown to get lifted. When will this
end?” he said.
Shanghai eased rules in some neighborhoods this week, but most residents
remain confined to their homes. Some expressed worries about food and
said they are increasingly disillusioned by the prospect of an
open-ended Covid lockdown.
Among more than two dozen residents who spoke from lockdown, some said
they are reaching a breaking point more than two years into the
pandemic. Some are considering leaving the country for good.
“The damage has been done,” said Liu Yun, a 34-year-old Shanghai native
and technology entrepreneur who said he has begun contemplating
emigrating to Singapore while confined at home with his wife and two
children. “More elites will start re-evaluating their relationship with
the city and this country.”
Even those who aren’t considering leaving said they expect some economic
and psychological scars to endure, along with resentment toward Beijing.
China has stuck to a zero-Covid policy under Chinese leader Xi Jinping,
who is widely expected this fall to extend his rule for at least another
five years.
Eighty-seven of China’s biggest 100 cities, from Changchun in the
country’s far northeast to its southern metropolis of Guangzhou,
collectively accounting for more than half of China’s population and
overall economic output, have imposed restrictions on movements and
activities because of the current outbreak, according to an estimate by
Gavekal Dragonomics, a research firm. On Friday, Xi’an, which earlier
this year emerged from a monthlong lockdown, tightened restrictions again.
Residents lined up for Covid tests in a compound in Shanghai this week.
PHOTO: LIU JIN/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
Few cities in China have the economic and political importance of
Shanghai, which for most of the past century has been a base of
prosperity at the forefront of the country’s engagement with the world.
Shanghai has served as a laboratory for many of China’s most important
market reforms. It is home to the world’s largest container port, the
country’s main stock exchange and many of its leading scholars, writers
and artists.
The city has been a crucial steppingstone for generations of China’s
leaders, including Mr. Xi, who was appointed the city’s top party
official in 2007.
Shanghai earlier had a more lenient Covid strategy, using targeted
lockdowns for affected residences, but tightened and extended
restrictions amid a visit by
Sun Chunlan, a vice premier, beginning April 2. Residents see the change
as a sign Beijing demanded full compliance with China’s zero-Covid
policy, which Mr. Xi has touted.
A spokesperson for the Shanghai government didn’t respond to a request
for comment.
Even as Covid cases spread in the city this spring, authorities insisted
that a citywide lockdown wouldn’t be necessary—right up until the day
before the abrupt March 27 announcement of mass lockdown measures that
caught tens of millions of residents unprepared.
That initial lockdown was set to last four days for the eastern half of
the city, then four days for the western half. With case counts still
soaring to new highs, however, authorities then said the lockdown would
be extended indefinitely. Many of those confined to their homes because
of potential contact with Covid cases before the citywide lockdown have
already been kept at home for more than a month, with no clear prospect
of release soon.
Residents said they worry that even after the citywide restrictions are
lifted, the Omicron variant’s transmissibility means sudden lockdowns
and tough tactics could return at any time, casting a cloud of
uncertainty that could last for years.
Since the broad lockdowns began in late March, food shortages have
spread as pandemic measures upended supply chains, leaving some reliant
on bartering and the goodwill of neighbors to survive. Some patients
with non-Covid medical needs have been left to fend for themselves,
while many have resisted being sent to the city’s chaotic and in some
cases unhygienic makeshift quarantine centers.
Shanghai on Thursday reported a record 27,000 new daily infections for
the prior day, bringing the city’s total official caseload since March 1
to more than 220,000 so far. While no deaths have been reported by
authorities, at least three large elderly care hospitals have been
overwhelmed by Covid outbreaks, resulting in patient deaths.
Authorities have been swift to censor people’s complaints and what they
call rumors online. On March 22, two men who shared information about
Shanghai’s coming lockdown were investigated by the police on suspicions
of “spreading fabricated information.” As the lockdown continues, more
people are venting frustration at the Covid restrictions, saying they
are harming people’s livelihoods and straining medical resources,
despite potential repercussions.
In a viral online post, one Shanghai resident complained that the
endurance of residents had “reached its limit,” listing a litany of
tragedies and grievances. “Are there officials who still listen to the
people?” wrote the person, who identified herself only as An Ordinary
Citizen. “How much more do we have to pay in exchange for truly putting
people first?”
The post was blocked on Thursday for a few hours before being restored
that evening. The person didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Community workers delivered food rations on Tuesday.
PHOTO: ALEX PLAVEVSKI/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK
Frank Tsai, a longtime Shanghai resident who hosts business and cultural
events through his company China Crossroads, initially supported the
country’s strict Covid measures, but said he was shocked by the food and
supply bottlenecks in Shanghai, which is widely regarded as one of
China’s most progressive and best-managed cities.
“This regime from its very founding was built on the elimination of
material anxiety, so it’s ironic that food insecurity is happening in
Shanghai of all places,” he said.
People must “firmly hold on to its pandemic policy without wavering,”
China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency said Thursday in an editorial,
calling on the public to “look at the big picture” despite the
hardships. “Persistence is victory,” Mr. Xi was quoted saying.
The People’s Daily, the Communist Party organ, implored citizens to
“grit their teeth” and put their faith in government officials.
Some expatriates said the current lockdown is the final straw after
several years in which they felt China was turning increasingly inward.
“We are at a critical point. People are really fed up,” said Bettina
Schoen-Behanzin, vice president of the European Union Chamber of
Commerce in China.
Mr. Liu, the technology entrepreneur, was first confined to his home
with his wife and two children on March 14, when the entrance to his
residential compound was abruptly sealed after several neighbors were
identified as “close contacts” with infected individuals. Later, the
stringent citywide lockdowns began.
Li Bing said he worried about what would happen to his cats if he tests
positive.
PHOTO: LI BING
Mr. Liu’s social-media feed became filled with videos and messages of
physical conflicts between residents and health workers tasked with
keeping people at home, making him more anxious and pessimistic.
“I’m afraid that this fight against the pandemic will evolve into some
kind of social movement, where people at the bottom of the society end
up hurting each other,” said Mr. Liu. “That’s terrifying.”
Mr. Liu said he also worries about the roughly 200 employees at the
company he founded 10 years ago, a business-to-business e-commerce
platform, many of whom are struggling to get enough food during the
lockdown. His company, too, is struggling from waning demand that he
attributes in part to the country’s lockdowns.
Li Bing, a 33-year-old employee at a different technology company, said
he felt emotionally weighed down after reading numerous online pleas
from residents struggling to get enough food and medical help. Last
week, a video showing a pandemic prevention worker in a hazmat suit
beating a corgi to death after its owners were sent to a centralized
quarantine center sparked online fury.
“What would happen to my cats? Would they be beaten to death?” said Mr.
Li, a native of Xi’an who has lived in Shanghai for six years with his
girlfriend and two cats. He said the prospect of testing positive for
Covid has stirred his anxiety and made him more eager to leave China
than ever.
“We have witnessed so many humanitarian disasters already,” said Mr. Li.
“I simply want to live as a normal person, with dignity.”
--
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com