On a rainy night in mid-April, the neighbors in my condo started banging pots and pans and yelling through the windows, frustrated with more than a month of isolation. This protest lasted just a few minutes and did not compare to what has been seen in other areas of the city, but it revealed something that many feel is unusual in China: people do not always accept government rules without complaint.
We were in the midst of the lockdown of more than 60 days in Shanghai, where even supermarkets were closed for a good part of the period, and we spent part of our days, especially at the beginning of the imposed isolation, looking for ways to get food —which, fortunately, was only laborious.
There were dozens, if not many more, protests in Shanghai during the heaviest period of the lockdown, which lasted from early April to June 1. In some cases, local authorities sent drones asking people to calm down and stop screaming.
What many Brazilians don’t understand is that, in China, protests are not only common, but they are society’s most direct way of putting pressure on local authorities. In a country where leaders are not directly chosen by vote, it is through protests, whether organized or spontaneous, that people try to make themselves heard.
Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t.
I remember, in 2012, seeing tanks through the streets of Ningbo, the city with the largest port in the country, to try to contain the protests of thousands of people against the opening of an industrial chemical plant. Ningbo was getting rich fast, but people were tired of breathing polluted air. What happened? Civil society won: the local government revoked the authorization for the construction of the petrochemical plant.
This is not always the case, of course, and the authorities are not always on the defensive. It is also important to note that local officials rise through the ranks by delivering economic growth and social stability. Out-of-control protests destroy political careers, but so does hitting everyone else. Protesters are always at risk, but less of physical violence than later retaliation by local governments. It is only to see that the recent protests are not being contained with violence, something that would probably escalate the problem and even jeopardize the careers of local rulers.
As long as protests are local, Beijing will tend to stay put. It’s still too early to tell, but the recent protests against tough lockdown measures in various areas of China could be of a different character. The number of protests is growing and, in some places, there are reports of screams against the regime and leader Xi Jinping, something very unusual.
The increase in the number of protests itself is easy to understand. Recently, Beijing announced several measures to relax containment policies against the spread of the coronavirus. However, local authorities, who are responsible for implementing these measures, have not responded uniformly to the relaxation.
In Guangzhou, with the number of cases rising, the government tried to move a large number of people into isolation, and many people simply refused. In several videos, we see groups of people in open confrontation with health authorities, breaking down isolation barriers.
Until then, it is understandable, since there are cross signals: on the one hand, the central government relaxing measures to combat the virus, and, on the other, local authorities imposing tough isolation measures.
However, what really moved people was the case of the fire in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang province, which killed at least 10 people. Several parts of the city have been in lockdown for three months. The building had been in an isolated community for weeks and many believe this prevented people from escaping and help arriving in time (local authorities deny this).
For the rest of China, a long lockdown already comes at an immense cost, but still risk losing their lives for what many see as the negligence of local authorities? Unacceptable. Therefore, protests began to pop up across the country, especially in areas where local governments announced lockdowns.
These protests are not a sign of central government weakness, but that doesn’t mean they can’t turn into one. The vast majority of Chinese people still support containment measures against the virus, as people think that letting the virus spread would be chaos. Chinese are used to collective action, but everyone is tired of uncertainties about Covid-19 rules.
Basically, what people ask is that local authorities be competent in their duties. If there is to be a lockdown in a community, the rules must be clear and respected. Nobody wants to experience what people went through in Shanghai, but they also don’t want the virus spreading. And this is the authorities’ dilemma: how to live with an increase in the number of Covid cases without this resulting in harsh containment measures or an explosive growth in the number of deaths, something that will not be accepted by society.
The Covid zero policy has saved tens of millions of lives in China, something that is undeniable. But the transition to “living with the virus” will not be easy. It will be done. It remains to be seen how.
With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
