A lot of them are people with mental health problems jumping from windows or the elderly not getting access to medicine or medical care. It’s truly horrific
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85% of Shanghai foreigners have considered leaving
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Smashing HK, now smashing Shanghai. It’s clear the authorities in Beijing don’t care if those foreigners leave, and I suspect they would welcome it.
Guy
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Other 15% are certifiably insane and/or masochist.
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Possibly this is (one of) the goals? Is Xi perhaps doing a bit of ethnic cleansing? Foreigners in other cities will see what’s going on in Shanghai and might decide to up sticks before the show goes on the road.
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I don’t think there is that level of thought put into this. The Shanghai government have tried to make it into a global cosmopolitan city.
There is just a lot of disconnect between Central government， regional and department policies.
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Yes. I did not mean to say that EVERYONE is aboard this “ethnic cleansing” move, as @finley put it. Places like HK and Shanghai exist because of the complex interaction between coastal China and the wider world. The policies coming out of Beijing however are pulling inward, seemingly bent on breaking those links.
Guy
Shanghai used to be a lively city. A lot is said about how the CCP ruined Hong Kong in recent years (and that’s true), but Shanghai while always part of Chinese territory, had its’ own vibrant and unique culture. Undoubtedly, the best of the mainland’s cities if we’re excluding HK. Now it’s being stifled and forcefully regressed under Xi’s totalitarian rule.
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Do you notice a pattern here?
Guy
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It’s not that coordinated
So in a sense I guess, Shanghai is getting Jack Ma’ed at the moment? Shined too bright, nail stuck too far up, so now getting hammered down or whatnot
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An acquaintance of mine in Shanghai (a work contact I’ve known for several years, pretty friendly and mild-mannered guy, one of perhaps three Chinese people I’ve met with a relaxed view on Taiwan) is one of those goons in white suits, he was telling me last night.
He’s apparently been working as a “community volunteer” for the last month, helping with the tests (seven in two weeks) and delivering food during the day, arranging orders with suppliers during the night, and sleeping around 4 hours a night.
His attitude was that he’s not sure which direction is better (compared with Taiwan), that he doesn’t support all of the policies implemented but he can try to help old people who can’t use smartphones very well, and that “I think it won’t be long before they argue fiercefully with me in groups” (so he’d been trying to build his muscles, he said).
Also: “I myself couldn’t get a glass of milk for my kid. When taking off the suit, I am one of them.”
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I’m pretty sure nobody would have a bone to pick with people who are clearly trying to alleviate the situation. I’m assuming the stormtroopers are regimented into platoons with specific tasks to carry out; the ones who will be at the sharp end of the stick are the ones hauling old folk off to quarantine, not bringing them food supplies, and I’m guessing they’re recruited either from the police/army, or from the shitty end of town.
However the fact that they are clad in white suits makes them faceless and non-human, which is of course the whole point. Faceless people can be told to do anything and they’ll obey, but if/when the tide turns, they’re also easier to hurt than people who have faces. And if your acquaintance is “helping with tests” then he’s clearly putting himself in an ambiguous position. So what does one do: become part of the machine that’s causing the harm (in order to try to mitigate the harm)? Attempt sabotage or protest? Disobey? Keep quiet and keep your head down? It’s an impossible situation, with no right answer.
What surprised me about this whole shitshow is how readily nice people just went along with it all. This, I think, is what Arendt meant about the banality of evil.
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It’s everything you said, mixed with the entrenched trauma and memory of the cultural Revolution repeating itself. Some of the older people are just replicating the behaviour they witnessed in their youths.
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Remember everyday they have 20,000 or something new cases, they need to find 20,000 new beds and people to manage these locations. Plus food and everything else.
True madness
If it took them this long to consider then I wonder wtf is wrong with them! My friends who are working there and in Beijing have been chomping at the bit to leave since last year. Some left their jobs early and bolted last summer. I can’t imagine why any foreigners would stay there at this point, no amount of money is worth living like that.
Kids, property and I guess salaries which are way higher than they can get elsewhere
An enjoyable argument between China CDC and an angry German:
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That was great.
At least Taiwan has already said that 10 days after a positive, you are out. No test needed.
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Not sure if posted before, but China has banned its own national anthem because it was being used to protest all their restrictions. Kind of funny.
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