“Destroyed houses, abandoned children, mass arrests”: Italian tells what is happening in China

They call it the “A4 Revolution” or the “White Paper Revolution”, the protest that spread to the main Chinese cities and provinces following the fire that in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region, caused the death of ten people. The demonstrators, who symbolically paraded with empty sheets, attribute the fatality to the harsh measures of the zero-Covid policy which, due to widespread restrictions and lockdowns, would have prevented people from seeking shelter and getting help. we talked to one Italian citizen who has been working with China for twenty years and has lived in Shanghai for 15 years working in international trade. The interviewee has always spoken openly with the press, but in recent times he has opted for anonymity, “a symptom of times that have changed quickly and radically”.

In recent days, Chinese youths have been protesting in major centers and in many areas of China. In Beijing they referred to the “Cultural Revolution”, in Shanghai they surrounded the Urumqi road and defied the authorities. How are you experiencing the situation?

The situation is visibly out of control. The accusations made by the protesters are also credible because I myself have seen how the authorities close down buildings, areas or entire cities, preventing vital movements, such as the purchase of primary goods. There have been cases of dependent children left home alone because their parents were taken away by the authorities, not to mention broken families, abandoned pets. So you have to see how they destroy the homes of the positives to disinfect, they throw everything in the air like a search, they throw chemical agents everywhere and in the end you have to throw away food, but also clothes, books, objects, furniture and who knows what else.

What is the perception in Shanghai?

I think they’ve arrested hundreds of people here in the last few days, obviously you don’t hear much about that in the state media, but we can assume that with the temperatures dropping and the police lockdowns even tighter, it will be difficult to hold the protest, even if death by Jiang Zemin seems to come at an auspicious time. Jiang like Xi consolidated his power here before becoming president and Shanghai has perhaps been the area that has suffered the most from the anti-covid measures. To the protesters, the city leader who became Xi’s right-hand man – Li Qiang – sold out to become the Republic’s number two. Furthermore, these are different protests from those of the past in which the example of Hong Kong is certainly playing its part, so the outcome is certainly not predictable.

There are currently around 37,000 active cases in China, but the official death toll since the beginning of the pandemic is 5,223, against the current 492,000 cases in Italy and a death toll of over 181,000. Aside from the possibility of questionable death numbers, given the same data, how do you interpret this difference in countermeasures?

The Covid-zero policy has been widely regarded as a success by the government, but with the arrival of new variants, less lethal but more contagious, it has become impossible to administer in such densely populated contexts. For me, the virus is an excuse for social control or Xi cannot claim that he failed by losing face, which is the most serious humiliation a Chinese person can suffer. Cities with more than 20 million inhabitants are closed for a few dozen cases, most of them asymptomatic.

Can you learn more about tracking measures?

We don’t need to download tracking apps like in Italy, we can use the most common Chinese apps like Alipay and Wechat to scan us a code at the entrance to places that informs our position to the authorities, but the consequences are increasingly serious both civil and criminally. They even call you to find out where you’re going and what you’re doing.

Do you have any personal experiences that can help us better understand current affairs?

Turns out I was stuck at home despite being negative because I passed near an area where there was a person who had come into contact with a positive. A friend was closed for 5 days because he had known a colleague who lived in a building where there was an asymptomatic positive. With this system and the daily exchanges that exist in a city like Shanghai, a single case can impact millions of people and turn their green codes into yellow or red codes. There is a very intuitive traffic light system, but even the green code does not always guarantee access to the sites and is even necessary to enter a public park. In the last 4 days I have had four smears (they are done in the throat), but for months I have not been able to go on business trips because I have to go through a 5-day quarantine for half an hour on the train. From one moment to the next something could happen, you never know if in an hour you will still be able to leave the house because they can close the complex for an asymptomatic case or even without cases.

Have you ever ended up in an anti-covid center?

Fortunately no. They are often hotels or huge containment areas set up as health facilities, but also remote gyms and fairgrounds with shared bathrooms and no heating. For thousands of people, it will be difficult to face winter.

How is the dynamic evolving? How do you perceive the feeling of the population?

It is said that until March, until the new government takes office, nothing will change but, I repeat, I don’t know how many will be able to face the winter in similar conditions. A few weeks ago it looked like measures were relaxing, but they haven’t. These days, positives are seen as people to be condemned, as if it’s a failure, you are hated because your positivity will harm the lives of others. There are perhaps three types of Chinese I have framed in this question: some are opposed, some are resigned and feel powerless, but most are confused and scared. In one city, the mayor lowered the level of restrictions and mothers did not send their children to school for fear of the virus. It’s not just a question of control now. Above all, however, Covid testing and management are worth billions, between structures, facilities, operators, materials, disposal, security, we are talking about important points of GDP. Many companies left, but a business has opened here in the meantime that we have to understand how to continue after the measures are relaxed and while the country’s growth is stagnant.

How is the Covid-zero policy managed in schools?

It is very difficult even there, many parents are exhausted, many children are giving up childhood or growing up with relatives. I’ll tell you a recent anecdote. During the last Halloween for a case that took place at Disneyland here in Shanghai, they blocked all the public, including children, until 11 pm to test everyone and wait for the results. Some schools did not open for the next few days, including my daughter’s school. She came back one day and then stayed home all week, although there were no cases at her school, just for possible positive links. The kids do about 6 tampons a week, now they say they want to get it down to 4, but it’s not sure yet.

However, the world is starting over, at the moment there is the World Cup and they are also very popular in China. How is this contrast experienced by Chinese and foreigners?

Honestly, I don’t think most Chinese people are fully aware of a world that’s been reset. I think that only those who manage to circumvent censorship and obtain information from foreign media have this perception. I happened to see World Cup footage in Chinese media and I don’t remember seeing full stadiums, live streams of similar events are never in real time here. The perception of foreigners also worsened. We are much more subject to hate campaigns, we are much less than in the past and consequently we are also more controlled. Which is why I prefer anonymity.

I remember that several years ago, campaigns against western influence were published in schools and universities, with even cartoons suggesting that foreigners should be careful with potential spies. Today, however, which hate campaigns against foreigners are you referring to?

There were several. A recent one was a campaign to stay away from foreigners because of monkeypox. They accuse us of leaking confidential information with VPN (software that masks the identity of web users, allowing them to bypass censorship), but when there are protests and disputes, the videos are made and posted first by the Chinese. Most of the foreigners like me that I met three years ago are gone, I don’t think many will return and I see many others willing to return to Europe.

How has the situation changed since you arrived? How do you and your family live it? Do you want to stay longer?

If it was up to my wife, we would have left by now. For her it is a return to the past and the cultural revolution, she is Chinese and has always lived here between Beijing and Shanghai. My relationship with China started 20 years ago, I arrived here for the first time when there was SARS and now I think I’m leaving with its evolution, Covid. I’ve lived here permanently since 2007 and back then there was much more enthusiasm for designing and innovating, a spirit I felt was lost in Italy. But now here too I see the same kind of depression in people.

A “depression” also visible at an economic level?

Especially on an economic level. Many companies are in a black crisis and are no longer able to pay their employees. It has become easier to lose a job than to find it, a reversal from China a few years ago. Before companies arrived in dozens every day, today they leave by dozens every day. It is increasingly difficult to get around, everything is more expensive and less accessible. Something has changed and even many Chinese now want to emigrate. The standard of living is undoubtedly higher than in the past, not for everyone, but for most. However, people are paying dearly for this condition.