WINDS OF CHANGE? Massive Protests Erupting All Over China
In China, the largest protests in recent memory have broken out across the nation over the draconian lockdown rules.
Protests are rare in China because of the tight control that the government has on the people, but this week, thousands of protesters took to the streets in Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing and even as far west as Urumqi.
China’s zero-covid strategy has been more than just about health, but has seemed to be a new control measure imposed on the people. For three years, the Chinese have had their businesses shut down, their families separated, their communication cut off, and their freedoms taken away – all in the name of public health. In 2020 and even most of 2021, the Chinese people were patient and seemed to trust that the government was implementing zero-covid measures to protect the people, but now the control measures no longer seem logical. The rest of the world has opened up while China has remained closed. Citizens of other nations are able to travel freely while Chinese have to get permission from the government to leave their home, shop for food, ride a train, or fly on an airplane.
This week, it seems that the government has drastically underestimated the growing discontent towards the zero-Covid approach, a policy inextricably linked to the Communist Party, which has recently pledged there would be no changing from it.
“We haven’t seen any protests,” wrote one BTJ missionary living in western China, “because we are in lockdown. [Our city] is in lockdown again!” Chinese cities have gone from one lockdown to another in 2022, even though the data has clearly shown that lockdowns did not create any long term benefits and in most cases actually created more harm than good.
One protester in Shanghai told the BBC that he felt “sad, angry and hopeless,” and that the lockdowns had left him unable to see his mother who was dying of cancer.
Now, the question is, will the protests continue to grow and force the government to soften their stance on the zero-covid strategy or will the protests lead to extreme crackdowns and violent clashes in the future?
One Comment
The Citizens of China why are you Belly Aching and arguing with Xi Jin Ping and the CCP over re-instating new COVID Restrictions? Your Nation was always fabulous with wearing masks during cold and flu season and also during COVID which you all know stop the spread of infectious diseases and then no one dies from COVID. Stop listening to trouble makers and rebel rousers in your country that like to cause trouble and are what we call in America (anti-establishment) and never like what the leader wants regardless of who the leader is. The only way to stop COVID is to institute restrictions. We have the same problem in the United States where those who hated wearing masks during COVID and we’re very impatient with lock downs. Many here had hissy fits and temper tantrums and melt downs that were hysterical to watch on News videos. Here are some. A woman in Target was approached by employees and told she couldn’t shop because she wasn’t wearing a mask well she threw all the masks on display on the floor and at the employees in her tirade fit then shows them her watch and says (Look I have a $45,000 Rolex Watch). Then in a shoe store the employees asked a woman customer to leave because she wasn’t wearing a mask and she threw shoe boxes at the employees cursing at them. And in a supermarket the manager told a woman shopper she had to leave because she wasn’t wearing a mask so she threw her entire shopping cart of groceries on the floor and at the manager cursing at him. Even in a McDonald’s a woman who was asked to leave because she wasn’t wearing a mask pulled out a gun and starting shooting at employees. And in Walmart a man was pushing his Dad in a wheel chair and both weren’t wearing masks and a father holding his 4 year old daughter’s hand said to the man you’re not wearing a mask and the man pushing his Dad in the wheel chair pulled out a Gun and aimed it at the father holding his daughter’s hand to back off and shut up and if the man shot the father he would have falled down dead in a pool of blood with his 4 year old daughter screaming and crying Daddy Daddy. Don’t behave this way. Wearing a mask and COVID Restrictions is for the safety and protection of everyone to NOT GET COVID.