Greater Shanghai has been able to evade the COVID-19 pandemic for the past two years, but it has not been so lucky with the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, which causes less severe symptoms than previous variants, but is far more virulent.
Since the middle of last month, the number of Omicron transmissions has continued to increase.
Outside of Hong Kong, Shanghai stands on its own as a Chinese city with a unique identity, and its medical experts have pushed to avoid cruelly locking down the city.
They had advocated a new approach of co-existence with the virus, maintaining normal life and economic order as much as possible while fighting the pandemic. They encouraged a more humane way of managing the situation.
Unfortunately, this approach was regarded by the authorities as too maverick; an excuse to carve an alternate route away from Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) “zero COVID” policy.
On March 26, it was announced that there would be no lockdown unless it was absolutely necessary.
However, on the evening of the very next day came another announcement, completely out of the blue, that the city was to be locked down as of early morning on March 28.
That triggered a panic-buying frenzy for daily necessities as city residents were caught completely unaware.
After the city lockdown announcement, the central government immediately relieved Hubei Province Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Secretary Ying Yong (應勇) of his position.
Two years ago, to deal with the pandemic, Ying, the mayor of Shanghai, was moved to the Hubei party secretariat position. It was assumed that he was now being recalled to Shanghai to assist in the pandemic response efforts as a consultant.
However, the Shanghai lockdown was handled in an unorthodox way, with Pudong District being locked down in the first four days, followed by Puxi for the next four.
This was again regarded by those on high as being suspiciously “independent.” Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan (孫春蘭), who is in charge of the country’s COVID-19 response, was dispatched to Shanghai, armed with a directive from “emperor” Xi to be “unwavering, unhesitating” on maintaining the “zero COVID” policy, indicating that he was dissatisfied with Shanghai’s free-thinking approach.
Sun’s dissatisfaction would have been exacerbated by the fact that CCP Committee Secretary of Shanghai Li Qiang (李強) and Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng (龔正) are former cadres of Xi’s from his time in Jiangsu Province, and Li is one of his most trusted aides.
Next came the backup, consisting of tens of thousands of medical professionals, including from the armed forces, at a scale last seen during the days of Han emperor Wu more than two millennia ago.
Accompanied by 50,000 Public Security Bureau officers, they administered polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests to 26 million people on Monday last week. This kind of military mobilization is something the CCP is particularly good at.
Shanghai residents are no fools. They know not to oppose state powers head on. Given the consequences of the city lockdown, and the fear that those who test positive would be hurled into administrative hell, they did not protest in the way that people in other districts did.
Instead, they signed petitions in small areas of the city or in their apartment blocks, requesting that they be allowed to quarantine at home and look after themselves, with everybody taking collective responsibility.
The authorities naturally had no response to this kind of “regional autonomy” or “southeast self-preservation,” and the medical experts remained silent.
On the day of mass PCR testing, some residents lined up for the tests in fancy dress, some done up like Superman, others wearing traditional clothing or wedding gowns.
Everywhere, people were showing how Shanghai’s unique culture, quite different from other areas, remained intact, even if the city was in lockdown. It was quite a contrast from the response in other parts of the country.
Regardless of that unique culture, the city has met the same fate as all over China in the authorities’ pandemic responses.
Similar to martial law, the severe lockdowns demonstrate the absolute power of the dictator. The entire country is at the mercy of the whims of the emperor and his insistence on maintaining his “zero COVID” policy.
Paul Lin is a political commentator.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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