Page 3 | To think China is still locking down

mumofgirl1 · 2022-11-28T21:19:08+00:00

Sorry if this has already be posted about I was just watching the local news and they where covering recent lockdowns in China I'm shocked they are still implementing lockdowns and wondered how there economy is coping nearly 3yrs down the line of lockdowns and what has happened to the vaccines over there have they not worked. It seems so strange when the rest of the world are coming out the other side of this and they are still putting local lockdowns in place surely they can't do this forever

shasha21 · 29/11/2022 04:48

Oh and I’ve name changed just in case anyone accuses me of like being some weird pro China secret agent or something 😂😂 trying to think of the MN references to prove I’ve been here for years - all I can think of right now is ‘Sean, Daniel or Balonz?’ from the Baby Name board and ‘Screaming at the Michaelangelo’! Haha.

shasha21 · 29/11/2022 04:53

One more thing I should also add is that China is bloody enormous and each province has its own rules and way of handling things. So my province has always been very effective at minimising the risk of covid while also allowing you to get on with life. In some other provinces it is more strict and others more relaxed.

For the person who said that people can’t enter China - that’s not correct either. You can enter, but normal tourist visas have been suspended so you can’t just come for a holiday but can come for work, to visit family, to study, etc.

HappinessAlley · 29/11/2022 05:37

shasha21, it's interesting to hear your views. I'm also in China, and while most of my contacts are foreigners (so that gives a bias), I do see things a little differently. I'll agree not all of it as bad as it can be made out, but it is pretty bad!

You describe it as a compound being locked down, and hey-ho, you have to stay at home for a few days, watching netflix. But for many people this is very frustrating to not know whether you're going to be locked down at any moment. You can't plan trips, and it's very hard for business.

There's a further fear about the lockdowns. The Shanghai lockdown was meant to be 4 days - it turned out to be 2.5 months. There's no guarantee if it will end after 48 hours.

There is also the damage to the economy - unemployment is rising among the young, who were already feeling the pressure of a competitive jobs market.

We see in Urumqi, the fear of being locked-in during a fire, is something many people can realise. We know cases of people not being allowed to go to hospital in a medical emergency because of Covid.

Lastly, while is this something that affects foreigners and the middle-class, but it's foreign travel. Middle-class people dream of their holiday to Europe to see Paris and Rome - and that's off the card for now, and for how long?

LizTrusssPA · 29/11/2022 05:49

Natural immunity to covid is a long disproven fallicy. Ask all the poor kids in schools who now routinely get it despite only having it a few months ago.
I don't think their economy will suffer too badly. They aren't done for weeks at a time they're done for days and frankly no law abiding citizen is going to adhere to a lockdown after Boris Johnson's shenanigans when others made huge sacrifices.

I do however agree that a lot of this by China is to do with control though as opposed to public health but that's mainly because I'm old enough to remember them flatly denying it for weeks and calling all Covid deaths pneumonia to not panic anyone and arresting the poor Doctor who tried to warn the world for scaremongering. They've always shown their true intentions in that regard.

Roussette · 29/11/2022 06:04

If it's not that bad in China, why are people protesting?

Because it's not like protesting here we do have freedom of speech (just, but no thanks t our Home Secretaries)
Protesting in China is a whole different ball game. Violence and arrest by the Police

Even an accredited BBC journalist with permission to film the protests was beaten up and arrested whilst reporting on the protests

China are suppressing their people

BouleBaker · 29/11/2022 06:33

But why are you still in a lockdown situation at all? No other country is. No one is wearing masks here or getting bolted into their homes. Covid is still around but with the vaccinations and the natural evolution of a pandemic to milder variants is no longer causing the death rates seen at the beginning of the pandemic. When is China going to come out of emergency pandemic mode? Lockdowns were needed at the start due to the high mortality rate and transmission rates of those initial strains. That's not the case any more.

Aishah231 · 29/11/2022 06:46

It's got bugger all to do with vaccines. Our vaccines are shit as well.

Zanatdy · 29/11/2022 06:49

I read in an article yesterday that vaccine take up wasn’t that high in China. Not sure how true that was. Or perhaps like you say could be the effectiveness of it

MilkyYay · 29/11/2022 07:02

But why are you still in a lockdown situation at all? No other country is. No one is wearing masks here or getting bolted into their homes.

This. There is no need for isolation and lockdowns. I haven't worn a mask in months!

China are using this to control and subjugate.

loveisagirlnameddaisy · 29/11/2022 07:04

shasha21 · 29/11/2022 04:44

Hi OP! I’m working in China at the moment. The news is quite exaggerated. There are lockdowns, but it’s not like it was in the UK. For example, in the cities people live in apartment complexes - loads of buildings inside a huge complex. If there are outbreaks, the one building where the outbreak is will be ‘locked down’ for 3 days while the people are tested each day. Once they are given the all clear they are free to go.

Legally, they must receive full pay for the time that they are locked down. (I got fully paid during the lockdown I experienced and so did my colleagues.)

If the outbreak gets out of control, they will lock down a bigger area (I.e the whole complex will be asked to stay in for 3 days - or the whole district when numbers start to spiral. They test daily and if no more positive cases they are freed asap).

There is an outbreak in the city I live in but we aren’t locked down. I’m a teacher and there will be covid tests done 2-3 times a week for all teachers and students so we know it’s safe to work and no cases in the school. People wear masks a lot still (not in schools though, just on public transport and in supermarkets. Free to use bars and restaurants as normal mask-free).

It is false that you aren’t allowed to travel between cities. It’s absolutely fine to travel as normal, but yes, you will be asked to download an app on your phone which shows that you haven’t been in any ‘high risk’ areas immediately before travel. If you have, you are just asked to take a test prior to departure. The results are all uploaded onto the app too, and there are small test centres scattered about everywhere so you can just pop in when you need to use one.

The news is obviously focussing on the very negative side but the news here does the same about the UK and USA! Watch the news at home and you think China is awful; watch the news here and it’s exactly the same about home. You have to be aware that the media very much picks and chooses what they report on to ensure that the country they aren’t so fond of doesn’t look great and their own country looks superior in whatever aspect!

Vaccine-wise, the general consensus (and official advice here) is that the mRNA technology used to make the vaccines abroad (like in the UK, Europe, etc) is very dangerous. It’s interesting because their own research says the same that those accused of being ‘anti-vaxxers’ say in the UK. Their vaccine is different. It seems to be just as effective in that it minimises symptoms but doesn’t make it impossible to get or transmit the virus (as with the vaccines back home).

In general, people here don’t really mind. The lockdowns are very few and far between, and they’re usually very short. The majority of the people I have spoken to feel that the irritation of occasional lockdowns are worth it to keep the vulnerable safe from covid. A few people think it’s stupid but I’d say that those people are very much outnumbered by those who feel it’s positive to be cautious in this way. (I’d say only about 15% of my friends and colleagues are negative about it, the rest feel it is positive.)

We feel sorry for them in the UK but they too feel sorry for us so it’s a really interesting experience to witness both sides!

Anyone has any questions feel free to ask! 😊

But isn't the news media in China state controlled so you only see what the CCP wants you to see? Have you seen any footage of the protests we're seeing in the west?

I just listened to a podcast called How to become a dictator, which was about President Xi and it was fascinating.

MilkyYay · 29/11/2022 07:09

Shasha our media might pick what they want us to see but our media isnt state controlled and we have completely unfettered access to internet forums, independent news sites, and other free media. We can start a thread on here strongly criticising our government. Public sentiment can and does result in changes in leadership (liz truss!). At the next election we'll vote democratically and can choose a different party to the one in power now.

China is completely different, state control is part of the fabric of life.

HappinessAlley · 29/11/2022 07:14

But why are you still in a lockdown situation at all? ... Covid is still around but with the vaccinations ...

I think you've answered your own question. To my mind, there is a genuine reason for the lockdowns, due to two medical issues, but those issues are the result of politics.

First, vaccination rates are low. Rather than in the UK, where we started with the elderly and vulnerable, in China, they largely vaccinated the young and healthy. Among the over 80s, vaccination rates are around 50%, and that's with less effective vaccines, whose effects are starting to wane. The elderly who have lived through the Cultural Revolution don't appear to trust the government and their vaccines, and who can blame them?

Secondly, rather than invest in hospital capacity, the government has invested hugely in isolation centres and testing. ICU capacity would be overwhelmed. The government has wasted the past three years and has made no plans for post-covid.

If the government opens up, hundreds of thousands will die (at least). If they don't open up, the economy will crater, and the young will see the failures of an authoritarian state.

The root cause of these issues are political. The government wanted to show it was the best in the World, and Xi Jinping cannot change course without losing face. He hasn't listened to medical advisors.

Lastly, all of this is political. It harks back to earlier periods which Xi Jinping is keen to implement. Daily life is controlled here by local party officials who can close districts and buildings at will. This means we are all watched and controlled at the lowest level. We scan into buildings and transport, and the government does not want to give up that control.

The only positive I see is that the government has backed itself into such a corner, that the moral authority of the government can only wane and there's a slimmer of hope that one day, China might become a free society.

RambamThankyouMam · 29/11/2022 07:15