Day: April 14, 2022

Shanghai lockdown: How angry netizens test China’s ‘Great Firewall’

Chin@Strategy

As millions of people continue to stay at home under strict lockdown in Shanghai, videos appearing to show their desperation and frustration have surfaced and gone viral. Usually such clips would not get past China’s censors, known as the ‘Great Firewall’. But the sheer volume of the clips has made it difficult for censors to keep up. Many are also being passed around in private group chats, which has made them harder to catch. BBC

Police in hazmat suits scuffle with people in Shanghai – video

Chin@Strategy

Police in hazmat suits were filmed grabbing screaming Shanghai residents in a video circulated on Chinese social media on Thursday. Users of the Chinese microblogging site Weibo claimed that local authorities had decided to take over several residential buildings in Zhangjiang county in Pudong district to quarantine Covid patients. Videos show residents kneeling on the ground, begging the police not to take them away, and dozens of officers scuffling with civilians and dragging some of them to the middle of the street The Guardian

China’s Widespread Lockdowns Will Bring an Economic Toll

Chin@Strategy

Nearly 400 million people are estimated to be under some form of lockdown in China as officials try to stop a fast-moving Omicron outbreak that is beginning to weigh on the world’s second-largest economy. Hundreds of thousands of people have been sent to isolation facilities in China, and millions more have been told to stay in their homes. Officials in dozens of cities have shut down normal daily life across the country in a race to track and trace the coronavirus and stamp out China’s worst outbreak since the start…

Shanghai Lockdown Diary

Chin@Strategy

Advertisement Xujiahui, Shanghai, April 14 — It’s now two weeks since Shanghai was locked down. I could hardly have imagined that this city would ever become as it is today. On the first day, a Friday morning, downtown looked like this: nearly completely empty of either cars or foot traffic, with only a couple of cyclists moving on the streets. (I would love to find the person who’s playing the erhu in the distance and say thanks – he’s been doing so daily since the first day.) Our building’s lockdown…

Shanghai’s Food Crisis Prompts Beijing Residents to Stock Up

Chin@Strategy

Some Beijing residents have started stockpiling food in their homes in case the city imposes a lockdown, after seeing reports of food shortages and even street fights over food during a lockdown in Shanghai. Liu Chang, a 29-year-old Beijing resident who lives with his girlfriend, has stocked enough food to last three months. He is worried about possible shortages as well as price gouging in the coming months. “No matter which city it is, there will be concerns like this,” he said. “I have never experienced famine, but I have…

Does China need to rethink its zero-Covid policy? – podcast

Chin@Strategy

To slow down a surge in Covid cases, last week Chinese authorities put Shanghai into lockdown. But with a population of 26 million there have been difficulties providing residents with basic necessities, and videos have appeared on social media showing protests and scrambles over food supplies. Now, authorities plan to start easing the lockdown in some areas on Monday, despite reporting a record of more than 25,000 new Covid cases. Madeleine Finlay talks to the Guardian’s China affairs correspondent, Vincent Ni, about what’s been happening in Shanghai, whether the Omicron…