From Beijing, the citadel of the Communist Party of China, to Xinjiang, in the far western region where the rulers of the country are engaged in a crime against humanity with the indigenous Uighur people, China on November 25- 26, 2022, erupted in protest against the draconian lockdown measures; clamped to attain the elusive goal of a zero-Covid situation.
Worse, on November 27, the protests against Covid lockdowns turned political, with agitators shouting slogans against President Xi Jinping and the ruling Communist Party of China, as demonstrations spread to university campuses in Beijing and Nanjing.
The BBC reported protestors in Shanghai were heard openly shouting slogans such as “Xi Jinping step down” and “Communist party step down.” Shanghai witnessed fresh demonstrations during the day despite the heavy presence of the police.
According to observers, the latest political protests appeared to be a continuation of the “banner protest” in Beijing in October 2022 during the 20th Congress of CPC which elected Xi Jinping as President for an unprecedented third term. The anti-lockdown protests were now posing a major challenge to Xi.
Crowds took to the streets on Friday,November 25, night in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, pumping their fists in the air and chanting: “End the lockdown.” Videos quoted in a Reuters report showed people in a plaza singing: “Rise up, those who refuse to be slaves.” People shouted they wanted to be released from the lockdown.
A separate video shared by Reuters showed residents of Beijing in an unidentifiable part of the city marching around an open-air car park on Saturday, shouting: “End the lockdown.” Residents under lockdown staged protests and confronted their local communist party officials over the restrictions on movements placed on them; some even succeeded in pressuring them into lifting the lockdown ahead of schedule.
While in Urumqi the lockdown has been among the longest in China, with many of its four million residents barred from leaving their homes for more than 100 days, the immediate spark for the public anger was a fire in a high-rise building in the Xinjiang capital on November 24 night in which 10 people were killed.
Residents could not escape in time as the building was under a partial isolation, causing the deaths in the fire. Communist party officials in Urumqi, in an effort to save their skins, called a news conference early on November 26, denying that the isolation had hampered escape and rescue, but common people questioned the official narrative. Multiple video clips uploaded in the social media platforms showed fire engines apparently unable to gain access to the complex and stuck in the narrow lanes next to some barricades, according to a report in the Hong Kong – based South China Morning Post.
The reverberations of the Urumqi fire were heard even in Beijing. “The Urumqi fire got everyone in the country upset,” the Reuters report quoted Sean Li saying, a resident of Beijing. In different Chinese cities on November 27 people were seen displaying blank white banners, a symbol of protest against the CPC, and lighting candles and laying flowers for the fire victims of Urumqi. Students erupted in protest in the prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing and in the Communication University in Nanjing, holding vigils for the Urumqi fire victims.
Videos posted in the social media showed residents in Beijing arguing with officials and getting planned isolation of their housing complexes cancelled after the incident of the Urumqi fire. The residents of one such complex in Beijing, ‘Berlin Aiyue,’ had caught wind of the plan for the isolation after seeing workers putting barriers on their gates. “That tragedy could have happened to any of us,” Sean Li told Reuters.By November 26 evening, lockdowns were lifted from 10 other residential complexes in Beijing.
The tragedy in Urumqi related to the building fire was not, however, the first such outcome of the draconian zero-Covid policy in China. On September 5, 2022, residents of the Sichuan province were prevented by the police and health workers from escaping to safer areas from their apartment buildings when an earthquake struck. Survivors of the quake and rescue workers in the area were subjected to daily testing for Covid. Rescue workers could engage in their task only if they had a negative PCR report taken within 24 hours, a green health code and no history of travel to cities with Covid-19 cases.
Yet another tell-tale photograph has emerged from Zhengzhou in the Henan province, showing a large crowd of protesters on November 23 confronting security personnel in white protective clothing at the compound of the iPhone factory operated by Foxconn Technology Group. Hundreds of workers engaged in the iPhone factory are returning to their country homes, even walking back, to escape draconian lockdown measures.
The New York Times News Service has quoted Wu Qiang, a political analyst in Beijing, saying: “What we are witnessing at Foxconn is the bankruptcy of the China model. It’s the collapse of China’s image as a production powerhouse, as well as China’s relationship in globalization.” According to the report, some multinational companies are already looking to expand production elsewhere.
The open display of defiance of the authority over the past two weeks in China are the visible signs of frustration and desperation with the lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing that have brought everyday life to a standstill.
With fresh reports of Covid outbreaks in different parts of the country, communist party officials have resorted increasingly to the familiar heavy-handed measures to stop the spread of the virus. Despite the stringent zero-Covid policy, restrictions on international travel for over three years and putting scores of cities under periodic lockdowns, including the capital Beijing, Covid-19 cases have increased sharply in recent weeks in China.
On November 25, AP reported from Beijing panic buying as new quarantine centres were set up in the capital city. Residents of Beijing emptied supermarket shelves and overwhelmed delivery apps with orders. Improvised quarantine centres and field hospitals have been thrown up hastily in gymnasiums, exhibition centres and other large, open indoor places which have become notorious for overcrowding, poor sanitation, scarce food supplies and lights that stay on round-the-clock. Most residents have been asked not to leave their compounds, some of which had been fenced off. The entrances are manned by workers clad in white suites from head to toe.
Correspondent of Financial Times in Beijing Thomas Hale found the protests extremely significant as the politics around Covid policies reflected wider political frustrations, including the slowing down of the economy. The periodic lockdowns and disruptions in the lives of the people of China for the past three years have disrupted the supply chains. Forecasters say in the latter half of 2022 the economic growth in China is weakening again after rebounding to 3.9 percent from a low of 2.2 percent. The overall growth rate in 2022 may not exceed three percent in 2022, way below over eight percent that China has experienced in recent years.
Trade in China shrank in October 2022 as anti-virus control pulled down domestic consumer spending. Exports declined and imports fell, too, under the impact of the overall weakening of the global economy.
It appears, however, that the satraps of the CPC have not still learnt their lessons. Things are unlikely to change for the better in China in the coming months. At a meeting on November 26, 2022, the communist party secretary in Beijing Yin Li asked lower-level officials to impose more resolute and decisive measures to contain the spread of Covid-19; including transferring people who would test positive and their close contacts to quarantine facilities. He also took measures to expedite the construction of makeshift hospitals.
People in China are, however, unlikely to accept the diktat of the CPC as the fear of Covid-19 has eased. People have learnt from their acquaintances that the symptoms are manageable. Rather, they are more worried about being infected in an isolation facility or while staying with strangers in a large and mismanaged makeshift centre. “I would rather stay at home and have a fever for a few days than stay in the hospital. It makes me sick just to think of the toilets,” an office worker in Beijing has been quoted in the media.
Confrontations, thus, it seems, will be the order of the day in China in the coming months.