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China’s ‘Absurd’ Covid Propaganda Stirs Rebellion
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David P.
Oct 3, 2022, 3:43:19 AM10/3/22
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China’s ‘Absurd’ Covid Propaganda Stirs Rebellion
By Zixu Wang, Sept. 29, 2022, NY Times
“We have won the great battle against Covid!”
“History will remember those who contributed!”
“Extinguish every outbreak!”
These are among the many battle-style slogans that Beijing has unleashed to rally support around its top-down, zero-tolerance coronavirus policies.
China is now one of the last places on earth trying to eliminate Covid-19, and the Communist Party has relied heavily on propaganda to justify increasingly long lockdowns and burdensome testing requirements that can sometimes lead to three tests a week.
The barrage of messages — online and on television, loudspeakers and social platforms — has become so overbearing that some citizens say it has drowned out their frustrations, downplayed the reality of the country’s tough coronavirus rules and, occasionally, bordered on the absurd.
By Day 8 of a citywide lockdown in Shanghai this spring, Jason Xue had no more food left in his fridge. Yet when he clicked on the government’s social media account, he noticed that a top city official had vowed to “make every possible endeavor” to address food shortages.
Government assistance didn’t show up until four weeks later, Mr. Xue said.
“I was extremely angry, panicked and despairing,” said Mr. Xue, who works for a financial communications firm. He eventually turned to neighbors for help. “The propaganda was resolute and decisive, but it was different from the reality that we didn’t even know whether we could have the next meal.”
Xi Jinping, China’s leader, has made controlling the virus a “top political priority.” Thousands of state media outlets and social media accounts have echoed Beijing’s “zero Covid” policy and praised the sacrifice of workers trying to control Covid-19.
Propaganda has long been one of the Chinese Communist Party’s favored tools for social control. But in the Covid era, the government’s use of it has been on overdrive. By some estimates, at least 120 Covid-related propaganda phrases have been created since the beginning of the pandemic.
When certain terms risked upsetting large numbers of people, officials simply came up with new ones. The authorities, for example, have swapped the word “lockdown” with “static management,” “silence” or “working from home” when referring to certain Covid protocols.
“Words shouldn’t be used that way,” Xiao Qiang, the founder of a California-based website that documents Chinese censorship, said in a phone interview. “The government embellished policies with political rhetoric, aiming to mitigate fallout.”
The authorities now avoid words like “lockdown” because they want people to continue to obey stringent coronavirus measures without panic or resistance, Mr. Xiao added. Officials made the policy language “ambiguous and awkward,” he said, which has contributed to confusion and frustration.
When people tried to run away from quarantine buildings during an earthquake in Sichuan Province this year, epidemic workers were caught on camera blocking them from seeking safety.
Videos of the episode were posted online and quickly deleted by censors, who said people should “at least bring masks before escaping from buildings,” even when an earthquake is “highly destructive.”
For some, the video was a reminder of how the government had used the pandemic to tighten its grip on their private lives, telling them when they can leave their apartments, what kind of food they can buy and what hospitals they can enter.
Kong Lingwanyu, a 22-year-old marketing intern in Shanghai, was upset that officials used the phrase “unless necessary” when describing restrictions around things like leaving the home, dining out or gathering with others.
Ms. Kong said a local official responsible for carrying out coronavirus policies had told her that she should not “buy unnecessary food.” She said she asked the official what standards the government used to determine what kind of food was necessary.
“Who are you to decide the ‘necessity’ for others?” she said. “It’s totally absurd and nonsense.”
On state television, Beijing’s “nine storm fortification actions” around the pandemic are frequently repeated to keep people in line with Covid policies. The nine actions are: neighborhood lockdowns, mass testing, contact tracing, disinfection, quarantine centers, increased health care capacity, traditional Chinese medicine, screening of neighborhoods and prevention of local transmission.
Yang Xiao, a 33-year-old cinematographer in Shanghai who was confined to his apartment for two months during a lockdown this year, had grown tired of them all.
“With the Covid control, propaganda and state power expanded and occupied all aspects of our life,” he said in a phone interview. Day after day, Mr. Yang heard loudspeakers in his neighborhood repeatedly broadcasting a notice for P.C.R. testing. He said the announcements had disturbed his sleep at night and woke him up at dawn.
“Our life was dictated and disciplined by propaganda and state power,” he said.
To communicate his frustrations, Mr. Yang selected 600 common Chinese propaganda phrases, such as “core awareness,” “obey the overall situation” and “the supremacy of nationhood.” He gave each phrase a number and then put the numbers into Google’s Random Generator, a program that scrambles data.
He ended up with senseless phrases such as “detect citizens’ life and death line,” “strictly implement functions” and “specialize overall plans without slack.” Then he used a voice program to read the phrases aloud and played the audio on a loudspeaker in his neighborhood.
No one seemed to notice the five minutes of computer-generated nonsense.
When Mr. Yang uploaded a video of the scene online, however, more than 1.3 million people viewed it. Many praised the way he used government language as satire. Chinese propaganda was “too absurd to be criticized using logic,” Mr. Yang said. “I simulated the discourse like a mirror, reflecting its own absurdity.”
His video was taken down by censors.
Mr. Yang added that he hoped to inspire others to speak out against China’s Covid policies and its use of propaganda in the pandemic. He wasn’t the only Shanghai resident to rebel when the city was locked down.
In June, dozens of residents protested against the police and Covid control workers who installed chain-link fences around neighborhood apartments. When a protester was shoved into a police car and taken away, one man shouted: “Freedom! Equality! Justice! Rule of law!” Those words would be familiar to most Chinese citizens: They are commonly cited by state media as core socialist values under Mr. Xi.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/29/business/china-covid-propaganda.html
By Zixu Wang, Sept. 29, 2022, NY Times
“We have won the great battle against Covid!”
“History will remember those who contributed!”
“Extinguish every outbreak!”
These are among the many battle-style slogans that Beijing has unleashed to rally support around its top-down, zero-tolerance coronavirus policies.
China is now one of the last places on earth trying to eliminate Covid-19, and the Communist Party has relied heavily on propaganda to justify increasingly long lockdowns and burdensome testing requirements that can sometimes lead to three tests a week.
The barrage of messages — online and on television, loudspeakers and social platforms — has become so overbearing that some citizens say it has drowned out their frustrations, downplayed the reality of the country’s tough coronavirus rules and, occasionally, bordered on the absurd.
By Day 8 of a citywide lockdown in Shanghai this spring, Jason Xue had no more food left in his fridge. Yet when he clicked on the government’s social media account, he noticed that a top city official had vowed to “make every possible endeavor” to address food shortages.
Government assistance didn’t show up until four weeks later, Mr. Xue said.
“I was extremely angry, panicked and despairing,” said Mr. Xue, who works for a financial communications firm. He eventually turned to neighbors for help. “The propaganda was resolute and decisive, but it was different from the reality that we didn’t even know whether we could have the next meal.”
Xi Jinping, China’s leader, has made controlling the virus a “top political priority.” Thousands of state media outlets and social media accounts have echoed Beijing’s “zero Covid” policy and praised the sacrifice of workers trying to control Covid-19.
Propaganda has long been one of the Chinese Communist Party’s favored tools for social control. But in the Covid era, the government’s use of it has been on overdrive. By some estimates, at least 120 Covid-related propaganda phrases have been created since the beginning of the pandemic.
When certain terms risked upsetting large numbers of people, officials simply came up with new ones. The authorities, for example, have swapped the word “lockdown” with “static management,” “silence” or “working from home” when referring to certain Covid protocols.
“Words shouldn’t be used that way,” Xiao Qiang, the founder of a California-based website that documents Chinese censorship, said in a phone interview. “The government embellished policies with political rhetoric, aiming to mitigate fallout.”
The authorities now avoid words like “lockdown” because they want people to continue to obey stringent coronavirus measures without panic or resistance, Mr. Xiao added. Officials made the policy language “ambiguous and awkward,” he said, which has contributed to confusion and frustration.
When people tried to run away from quarantine buildings during an earthquake in Sichuan Province this year, epidemic workers were caught on camera blocking them from seeking safety.
Videos of the episode were posted online and quickly deleted by censors, who said people should “at least bring masks before escaping from buildings,” even when an earthquake is “highly destructive.”
For some, the video was a reminder of how the government had used the pandemic to tighten its grip on their private lives, telling them when they can leave their apartments, what kind of food they can buy and what hospitals they can enter.
Kong Lingwanyu, a 22-year-old marketing intern in Shanghai, was upset that officials used the phrase “unless necessary” when describing restrictions around things like leaving the home, dining out or gathering with others.
Ms. Kong said a local official responsible for carrying out coronavirus policies had told her that she should not “buy unnecessary food.” She said she asked the official what standards the government used to determine what kind of food was necessary.
“Who are you to decide the ‘necessity’ for others?” she said. “It’s totally absurd and nonsense.”
On state television, Beijing’s “nine storm fortification actions” around the pandemic are frequently repeated to keep people in line with Covid policies. The nine actions are: neighborhood lockdowns, mass testing, contact tracing, disinfection, quarantine centers, increased health care capacity, traditional Chinese medicine, screening of neighborhoods and prevention of local transmission.
Yang Xiao, a 33-year-old cinematographer in Shanghai who was confined to his apartment for two months during a lockdown this year, had grown tired of them all.
“With the Covid control, propaganda and state power expanded and occupied all aspects of our life,” he said in a phone interview. Day after day, Mr. Yang heard loudspeakers in his neighborhood repeatedly broadcasting a notice for P.C.R. testing. He said the announcements had disturbed his sleep at night and woke him up at dawn.
“Our life was dictated and disciplined by propaganda and state power,” he said.
To communicate his frustrations, Mr. Yang selected 600 common Chinese propaganda phrases, such as “core awareness,” “obey the overall situation” and “the supremacy of nationhood.” He gave each phrase a number and then put the numbers into Google’s Random Generator, a program that scrambles data.
He ended up with senseless phrases such as “detect citizens’ life and death line,” “strictly implement functions” and “specialize overall plans without slack.” Then he used a voice program to read the phrases aloud and played the audio on a loudspeaker in his neighborhood.
No one seemed to notice the five minutes of computer-generated nonsense.
When Mr. Yang uploaded a video of the scene online, however, more than 1.3 million people viewed it. Many praised the way he used government language as satire. Chinese propaganda was “too absurd to be criticized using logic,” Mr. Yang said. “I simulated the discourse like a mirror, reflecting its own absurdity.”
His video was taken down by censors.
Mr. Yang added that he hoped to inspire others to speak out against China’s Covid policies and its use of propaganda in the pandemic. He wasn’t the only Shanghai resident to rebel when the city was locked down.
In June, dozens of residents protested against the police and Covid control workers who installed chain-link fences around neighborhood apartments. When a protester was shoved into a police car and taken away, one man shouted: “Freedom! Equality! Justice! Rule of law!” Those words would be familiar to most Chinese citizens: They are commonly cited by state media as core socialist values under Mr. Xi.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/29/business/china-covid-propaganda.html
dosai prata
Oct 3, 2022, 5:49:27 AM10/3/22
to
Those protesters should consider themselves lucky that they are able to protest. If not for the strict measures against the pandemic, they would be lying sick at home or in hospital or be dead by now.
The Chinese should hold on till the coming winter is over. Let's see if there will be another wave. If there is, the Chinese will have the last laugh.
ltlee1
Oct 3, 2022, 9:36:16 AM10/3/22
to
that residents could take appropriate preventive measures and health officials could monitor
whether the disease is trending one way of another. This approach will maximize protection and
minimize inconvenience,. Similar plan was also suggested by Deborah Birx in her book several
months ago.
关于划定新冠肺炎风险区域的通告
3小时前一、高风险区(1个) 将桥东区胜利北路街道汉桥北街社区南口国税局家属院2号楼划定为高风险区,采取“足不出户、上门服务”的管控措施。 二、中风险区(7个) (一)桥东区(5个) 桥东区胜利北路街道汉桥北街社区除南口国税局家属院...
澎湃新闻
河北张家口新增高风险区1个、中风险区7个
3小时前一、高风险区(1个) 将桥东区胜利北路街道汉桥北街社区南口国税局家属院2号楼划定为高风险区,采取“足不出户、上门服务”的管控措施。 二、中风险区(7个) (一)桥东区(5个) 桥东区胜利北路街道汉桥北街社区除南口国税局家属院...
央视网
关于调整新冠肺炎风险区域的通告
7小时前根据疫情处置进展,按照国务院联防联控机制《新型冠状病毒肺炎防控方案(第九版)》相关规定,经专家组研判,决定自2022年10月3日19时起,将裕华区槐底街道槐底二区调整为低风险区,实行“个人防护,避免聚集”等防范措施,其他区域风险等级不变。
澎湃新闻
织金县应对新冠肺炎疫情联防联控机制关于调整织金县部分区域疫情...
3小时前风险区调整为低风险区（3个）（一）猫场镇（1个）：齐心村（二）文腾街道（2个）：宏洲路口入口往北、西湖路通城大道入口往东、174老职工宿舍后山往东北、水乡4号地块
身边24小时
内蒙古达拉特旗划定多个疫情风险区
10小时前一、高风险区(1个):锡尼街道和平社区碧桂园住宅小区建筑工地。划定后,以上区域实行“足不出户、上门服务”等封控措施。 二、中风险区(2个):锡尼街道长胜社区恒悦酒店,白塔街道白塔社区金帝牵手音乐会所(牵手KTV)。划定后,以上区域执行...
新浪
内蒙古呼和浩特划定高风险地区78个 中风险地区14个|新冠肺炎_新浪...
1小时前台阁牧镇碧水蓝山小区西区、台阁牧镇碧水蓝山小区东区、金浩区域服务中心宽城小区东区、金海区域服务中心公元大道小区二期、金浩区域服务中心泰和熙地小区、金海区域服务中心金润华府小区B区划定为高风险区,采取“足不出户、上门服务”的封...
新浪财经
David P.
Oct 4, 2022, 2:35:51 AM10/4/22
to
dosai prata wrote:
> David P. wrote:
> > China’s ‘Absurd’ Covid Propaganda Stirs Rebellion
> > By Zixu Wang, Sept. 29, 2022, NY Times
> > [..................]
> David P. wrote:
> > China’s ‘Absurd’ Covid Propaganda Stirs Rebellion
> > By Zixu Wang, Sept. 29, 2022, NY Times
> > https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/29/business/china-covid-propaganda.html
> As usual for the American Press, blowing things out of proportion. Those protests are rare and the protesters only make up a tiny fraction of the population of China.
>
> Those protesters should consider themselves lucky that they are able to protest. If not for the strict measures against the pandemic, they would be lying sick at home or in hospital or be dead by now.
>
> The Chinese should hold on till the coming winter is over. Let's see if there will be another wave. If there is, the Chinese will have the last laugh.
------------------
> As usual for the American Press, blowing things out of proportion. Those protests are rare and the protesters only make up a tiny fraction of the population of China.
>
> Those protesters should consider themselves lucky that they are able to protest. If not for the strict measures against the pandemic, they would be lying sick at home or in hospital or be dead by now.
>
> The Chinese should hold on till the coming winter is over. Let's see if there will be another wave. If there is, the Chinese will have the last laugh.
Why do you want to keep adding one billion people every 12 years,
like we've been doing since 1960??
--
--
ltlee1
Oct 4, 2022, 8:00:02 AM10/4/22
to
Low risk area such as 低风险区（一）猫场镇（1个）：齐心村 has 4492 residents.
High risk area such as 高风险区(1个):锡尼街道和平社区碧桂园住宅小区建筑工地 is very confined.
ltlee1
Oct 4, 2022, 8:02:36 AM10/4/22
to
articles which do not allow their readers to know what is happening in China?
David P.
Oct 4, 2022, 2:17:06 PM10/4/22
to
ltlee1 wrote:
> David P. wrote:
> > dosai prata wrote:
> > > David P. wrote:
> > > > China’s ‘Absurd’ Covid Propaganda Stirs Rebellion
> > > > By Zixu Wang, Sept. 29, 2022, NY Times
> > > > [..................]
> > > > https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/29/business/china-covid-propaganda.html
> > > As usual for the American Press, blowing things out of proportion. Those protests are rare and the protesters only make up a tiny fraction of the population of China.
> > >
> > > Those protesters should consider themselves lucky that they are able to protest. If not for the strict measures against the pandemic, they would be lying sick at home or in hospital or be dead by now.
> > >
> > > The Chinese should hold on till the coming winter is over. Let's see if there will be another wave. If there is, the Chinese will have the last laugh.
> > ------------------
> > Why do you want to keep adding one billion people every 12 years,
> > like we've been doing since 1960??
> > -- -----------------
> David P. wrote:
> > dosai prata wrote:
> > > David P. wrote:
> > > > China’s ‘Absurd’ Covid Propaganda Stirs Rebellion
> > > > By Zixu Wang, Sept. 29, 2022, NY Times
> > > > [..................]
> > > > https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/29/business/china-covid-propaganda.html
> > > As usual for the American Press, blowing things out of proportion. Those protests are rare and the protesters only make up a tiny fraction of the population of China.
> > >
> > > Those protesters should consider themselves lucky that they are able to protest. If not for the strict measures against the pandemic, they would be lying sick at home or in hospital or be dead by now.
> > >
> > > The Chinese should hold on till the coming winter is over. Let's see if there will be another wave. If there is, the Chinese will have the last laugh.
> > ------------------
> > Why do you want to keep adding one billion people every 12 years,
> > like we've been doing since 1960??
> Why WSJ writers did not do their homework and keep publishing misleading
> articles which do not allow their readers to know what is happening in China?
----------------------
> articles which do not allow their readers to know what is happening in China?
Each species has natural enemies that keep its
numbers in check. The U.N. projects that we'll rise to
9 then 10 billion & level out. Is that the plan? What's the plan?
Who's the author of the plan? I was talking to a professor
in 2020, & he said: "There is no plan."
-----------
Extending life spans artificially by suppressing
communicable diseases is a selfish decision at the
expense of other critters, future generations, and
the environment! Nowhere else in Nature does a
population increase indefinitely without a crash!
-------------
If we had stayed at world population 4 billion, we
wouldn't have climate change, the refugee crisis,
decimation of wildlife, & environmental degradation!
People thought they could do whatever they wanted,
and get away with it, and they were wrong!
-----------
The media needs to be interviewing Ecologists.
They're looking at the whole biosphere. Doctors,
epidemiologists, and politicians are just looking
at a piece of the picture, whatever suits them!
There's nothing "normal" about adding one billion
people every 12 years!
-------------
The scientists called for Zero Population Growth 50 years ago;
they were looking at our ecological footprint & projecting
into the future, & nobody else was! Nothing was debunked;
it was ignored!
--
--
stoney
Oct 5, 2022, 1:18:49 PM10/5/22
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