China Tweets #15
Covid and lockdowns in China
Foxconn migrant workers flee their workplace to avoid Covid outbreak and lockdown:
Visuals of migrant workers working at Foxconn in Zhengzhou fleeing the factory on foot on the highway are circulating on social media. There are about 300k workers here and 20k are rumoured to have tested positive, which local authorities denied. pic.twitter.com/mu02MDvzna
— Chu Yang (@ChuYang_Journ) October 30, 2022
Zhengzhou Foxconn hires around 300k workers and makes half of the world's iPhones. amidst covid lockdown chaos & food shortage, videos on douyin show many migrant workers from within Henan province are returning home on foot... as no public transport is available due to lockdown pic.twitter.com/JrSshy4Xbd
— Chenchen Zhang 🤦🏻♀️ (@chenchenzh) October 30, 2022
On China's zero-Covid policy:
A Chinese business consultant in a Ted-style talk justified zero-Covid policy by saying that in 10 years the West will be brought to its knees b/c long-Covid, which will decimate most of its labor force. pic.twitter.com/kQRTDYE813
— Yanzhong Huang (@YanzhongHuang) October 30, 2022
And here is a justification for the government's zero-Covid policy:
A Chinese business consultant in a Ted-style talk justified zero-Covid policy by saying that in 10 years the West will be brought to its knees b/c long-Covid, which will decimate most of its labor force. pic.twitter.com/kQRTDYE813
— Yanzhong Huang (@YanzhongHuang) October 30, 2022
Here is the same video with automated translated subtitles:
Hey @YanzhongHuang, here's your video [ai] translated from Chinese as requested by @shermham.
— VidTranslator - targum.video AI bot (@vidtranslator) October 30, 2022
Follow @altryne to get more free transcriptions. https://t.co/qM9EA8dodr pic.twitter.com/K39MILmUya
Glimmers of hope in the distance about changes in zero-Covid policy:
Six ministries and departments jointly issued a new document, urging to facilitate cross-border business traveling. It is rumored among investors that Beijing may soon shorten the quarantine for inbound travelers to 2+5, a major step towards recalibrating its zero-covid policy. pic.twitter.com/JLVd48ILFP
— Shanghai Macro Strategist (@ShanghaiMacro) October 25, 2022
On how lockdowns work in Chinese cities:
This is a remarkable interview with head of Xining's Municipal Commerce Bureau, Chen Xiaoping
— Alexander Boyd (@alexludoboyd) October 27, 2022
Despite standard state-controlled Q&A formula, Chen (& others) sheds real light on how lockdowns actually work https://t.co/r0skpecyzM
And these are the long-term impacts its having on China's youth:
For @ForeignPolicy , I wrote about the generation of young Chinese whose lives have been reshaped by the zero-COVID policy. Lately, this generation has started to realize that many benefits they take for granted could all be taken away by the government at any moment. https://t.co/j3ZAXFB8jj
— Tracy Wen Liu (@Tracy_Wen_Liu) October 26, 2022
Foreigners have been leaving in dribs and drabs but that might increase as longdowns continue:
June 30, 2023 appears to be the date of a pretty sizable exit of expatriates and of the remaining foreigners left in #Shanghai. I personally know so many people headed home, or elsewhere. Good luck to 🇨🇳 as it charts its new course. #ZeroCovid pic.twitter.com/KaUAJ0falm
— SussyBaka (@jeffreywwu) October 30, 2022
Propublica published a piece on investigations into the origins of Covid-19, and some people are not happy with it:
The ProPublica thing on the Wuhan lab is being taken at face value by all my normie mtutuals and with extreme scepticism by all those who can read Chinese beyond a menu. It's quite astonishing.
— Yuan Yi Zhu (@yuanyi_z) October 30, 2022
And some people see the absurdity of it all:
Viral photos of someone’s Halloween costume in Shanghai circulating on WeChat. #shanghai #covidzero pic.twitter.com/syLRTPfLfd
— Edward Lawrence (@EP_Lawrence) October 30, 2022
The scariest costume of all: the Healthcode app Red Code! pic.twitter.com/NqDZFMpGXb
— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) October 30, 2022
Economy
1/9
— Michael Pettis (@michaelxpettis) October 29, 2022
Very interesting story on what is in effect a cautionary tale: "Once Asia’s biggest manufacturer of aluminium extrusions, Zhongwang thrived in the 2000s as China’s booming property sector created strong demand for its products in construction."https://t.co/dgIHHfZe32
1/9
— Michael Pettis (@michaelxpettis) October 30, 2022
The idea that China's astonishing growth over the past three decades was the result of its embrace of free markets, and its recent slowdown a consequence of its rejection of free markets, is much more ideological than empirical.https://t.co/qxyN3yXcBv
1/8
— Michael Pettis (@michaelxpettis) October 30, 2022
This article that makes an important point, namely that "decoupling from China isn’t going to be easy" for foreign manufacturers.
That's what I tell my clients, although often to a lot of resistance and pushback.https://t.co/OorqUOfiIK
CCP Personnel
Big provincial moves in new CCP Politburo
— Neil Thomas 牛犇 (@neilthomas123) October 28, 2022
Chen Jining 陈吉宁 (58) is made Party Secretary of Shanghai to replace Premier-designate Li Qiang
Now he's a frontrunner for the 7-man Standing Committee in 2027
Every Shanghai PS since 1987 won PSC promotion (except Chen Liangyu) (1/) pic.twitter.com/XYRAXRKmQd