From January 28 to February 4, 2023, a Chinese-operated high-altitude balloon was seen in North American airspace. On Feb 4, it was shot down by U.S. Air Force.
The U. S. government said that balloon carried antennas and other equipment clearly for intelligence surveillance, yet Chinese government insisted it was a civilian meteorological research airship that had blown off course.
Over the past weekend, four more unidentified objects were spotted U.S. and Canadian airspace and were shot down as well. Whether they’re also operated by China is unclear so far.
On November 24th, at least 10 people died in a high-rise fire in Urumqi, the regional capital of Xinjiang. It was widely believed that Covid restrictions prevented the victims from escaping.
As China’s harsh Covid rules extend into the third year, frustration and desperation with lockdowns, quarantines and mass testings that have upended everyday life, have caused anger and defiance across china. This fire in Urumqi has pushed people’s anger even deeper. For the past a few days, demonstrators appeared in cities and on college campuses, most of them holding a blank sheet of A4 paper, a symbol of protest against Covid policies or even denouncing the Communist Party and its leader, Xi Jinping.
There is definitely nothing on the paper, but we know what’s on there. Leaving things unsaid, a sheet of blank paper expresses even more than words can do. It represents everything we want to say but cannot say.
A bus transporting 47 people from the city of Guiyang to a quarantine facility rolled over around 2:40 am on September 18th, killing at least 27 of them. While the rest of the world moves toward living with the virus, China still have mass quarantines lockdowns under its “Zero Covid” policy which ordinary Chinese people are powerless to resist. Angry comments and large outpourings of public grief were censored.
China’s national women’s volleyball team were wearing N95 masks in the opening set of their match against Iran at the Asian Volleyball Confederation Cup, being held in the Philippines. They lost the first set. After taking masks off for the second set, they went on to win. Sacrificing the health of players for the sake of the country’s “Zero Covid” policy, this ridiculous scene has caused a stir on Chinese social media. People couldn’t help asking: Who lost his mind and made the decision? Don’t you have any common sense?
In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, various discriminatory practices have emerged worldwide, but few are as stark as the “No COVID History” policies seen in China. In a bid to control the spread of COVID-19, some institutions in China have implemented a policy requiring individuals to have no history of COVID-19 infection. This means that even those who have recovered from the virus are denied entry to certain public spaces or employment opportunities. For instance, a museum in Hangzhou explicitly stated that visitors must not have been previously diagnosed with COVID-19.
The discrimination goes beyond policy. COVID-19 survivors have been labeled with dehumanizing terms such as “Yang Ren” (阳人), “Little Sheep” (小羊人), and simply “Sheep” (羊). These labels strip individuals of their dignity and reinforce negative stereotypes. Moreover, the personal details of COVID-19 patients have been publicly disclosed, leading to online harassment and further stigmatization.
Afen’s story is a poignant example of the impact of these discriminatory policies. After recovering from COVID-19, Afen struggled to find employment due to the “No COVID History” requirement. Despite numerous attempts to secure a job, she faced repeated rejections solely based on her past infection. Her situation became so dire that she ended up living in Hongqiao Railway Station, reflecting the harsh reality faced by many in similar circumstances.
The widespread implementation of the “No COVID History” policy has resulted in mass discrimination within industries such as the service sector in Shanghai. Many recovered patients, like Afen, find themselves in a precarious position, unable to secure basic employment despite being otherwise qualified.
One of the underlying reasons for this discrimination is the fear of “re-positive” cases—instances where recovered patients test positive for COVID-19 again. However, scientific evidence suggests that these cases are typically due to the presence of non-infectious viral fragments. Despite this, the fear persists, fueled by sensational media reports and public misunderstanding.
Educational efforts are crucial in combating the stigma associated with COVID-19 recovery. Clear communication about the nature of “re-positive” cases and the actual risks involved can help alleviate public fear. Additionally, policies must be revised to align with scientific understanding and to protect the rights of those who have recovered from COVID-19.
In conclusion, the “No COVID History” policy in China is a glaring example of how fear and misinformation can lead to widespread discrimination. It is a call to action for policymakers, educators, and the public to stand against such practices and support the rights and dignity of all individuals, regardless of their health history.
China has stopped renewing passports and issuing new ones to Chinese citizens since July 30, 2021. However, that’s not enough for the government to crack down on people escaping the country. Today China just announced it will strict limit unnecessary overseas travel for Chinese citizens to prevent the virus being brought into the country.
“Don’t go out unless necessary, don’t leave the country unless necessary, don’t be born unless necessary,” one popular comment in reaction to the news on Weibo, a Chinese social media like Twitter.
While witnessing the chaos and dysfunction in the lockdown of Shanghai, fears rise over new government-enforced lockdowns — especially in the capital Beijing, where Covid cases are rising.
Today’s announcement of travel ban extinguished the hope to escape for those who still hold valid passports.
China is watching all those international sanctions on Russia, and opposition and protests against Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Putin’s power is being challenged like never before. Will China have a second thought about force unification of Taiwan?
As Russia-Ukraine war escalates, China is on pins and needles, as Xi and Putin just issued a joint statement saying that the relationship between China and Russia has “no forbidden zones”.
Peng Shuai, a 35-year-old Chinese tennis player and former world doubles No.1, published a long post on Weibo on Nov 2, 2021, accused Zhang Gaoli, now 75, a former high-ranking Chinese government official, of sexual assault. Zhang Gaoli is a former vice premier who served on China’s Politburo Standing Committee and was one of the country’s most powerful officials behind President Xi Jinping.
In the post, Peng Shuai wrote that Zhang had forced her to have sex despite repeated refusals, giving the timeline of her on-and-off affairs with Zhang during the past 10 years. The post was removed within 20 minutes from her verified account on Weibo, and even her name became a censored word. Since then, Peng hasn’t posted again on the site or been seen in public for 3 weeks.
Now, her safety and whereabouts have become a growing concern among her peers, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the White House. And a campaign #whereispengshuai intitiated by Chinese feminists to located the disappeared tennis star has gone global. Many of the world’s biggest tennis stars, including Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, and Andy Murray, have posted messages on Twitter with the hashtag.
The outcry prompted Chinese state media to release a series of photographs and videos that appeared to show all was well.
Over the weekend, Peng had a video call with the head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), after which a statement from the group said she had appeared safe and well.
But concerns over her safety and well-being remain.
Human Rights Watch criticized the IOC over the video call, saying its “collaboration” with Chinese authorities on Ms. Peng’s reappearance “undermines its expressed commitment to human rights, including the rights and safety of athletes”.
The resolution on the party’s “achievements and historical experiences” since its founding 100 years ago was passed at the end of a four-day, closed-door meeting of more than 300 top leaders on its Central Committee, state media reported.
It puts Xi on the same pedestal as Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, two previous leaders who cemented their position as per-eminent leader with the only other two such resolutions passed, in 1945 and 1981 respectively.
Back in 2018, Xi made a bold power play by eliminating a term limit on the presidency, opening the way for him to lead China indefinitely. That move overturned widespread expectations that the party had been settling into a 10-year cap on leaders’ time in power.
Today’s pass of this resolution sets the stage for next year’s sweeping leadership reshuffle and paves the way for a legacy-defining third term for the president.
For China’s internet regulators, even a censored US-based social network was too much.
Microsoft said on Oct 14 that it would cease operating its work-oriented social network LinkedIn within China by the end of the year because of “significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China.”
The announcement is a symbolic moment for US-China tech relations, and for China’s new hard-line approach to regulating its tech industry. Microsoft’s withdrawal is the most high-profile departure since Google left the country in 2010 in protest over censorship and alleged espionage.
Microsoft’s censorship has been well documented. Earlier this year, a number of academics and journalists saw their LinkedIn accounts censored. Bing, another Microsoft product, stoked censorship concerns with its image search results for “tank man” on this year’s 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown. The company even censored its own farewell message. LinkedIn’s English language statement claimed the company “strongly [supports] freedom of expression,” but the phrase was conspicuously absent from the company’s Chinese language statement.
Throughout China, as the school year starts on September 1, all elementary and secondary school students face a new mandatory class — Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.
The new curriculum highlights how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Xi are focusing on ideological control of the population as the course, referred to as “Xi Thought,” trickles down from Chinese universities, where it was introduced in 2020.
According to China’s Ministry of Education, there are four versions of the textbook, each geared to different levels of students. The new curriculum will be taught throughout the country to make sure the content will “get into the brains of students.”
On July 23, China announced the new rules that require China’s tutoring companies to become nonprofit entities. They were banned from offering tutoring services during weekends and school breaks, and from making profits, raising capital or going public.
China is tightening curbs over US-listed Chinese companies. Look at what happened to DIDI, the ride-share company that was listed a few days ago, this crackdown on tutoring firms is Deja Vu all over again.
Two years ago, Chinese tech workers protested on GitHub, the worlds’s largest code host, against grueling overtime hours at some companies, aiming at the industry’s “996” work culture, which referred to the 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. workday, six days a week.
Ironically, earlier this month, ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company has announced that it will cancel its overtime policy, effective August 1st. An internal survey about whether to abolish its infamous overtime policy was sent out before the announcement. Surprisingly, about one-third of the surveyed employees opposed that abolishment and complained that they would be subject to the same amount of workload but less pay.
Tang Ping, meaning “giving up and lying flat” became a rage among young Chinese, as a stand against the pressures of modern life. It started with a post saying “lying flat is justice”, by a social media user called Kind-Hearted Traveller. Soon it went viral and became an online movement.
The movement of “Tang Ping” is meant to reject the culture of overwork that forces Chinese youngsters to work for longer hours with little reward. Many are frustrated with the low prospects of their jobs and their inability in the face of rising prices to afford a house ever in their lifetimes.
However, this trend was soon be repressed by censorship, and related merchandise like T shirts with “Tang Ping” designs were deleted from Taobao, the biggest e-commerce platform in China.
The Truth Of China 