All week, China has been rocked by protests against President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party’s extreme “zero-COVID” policies, which have forced many to stay at home for months, possibly leading to the deaths of 10 people trapped in an apartment building fire on Nov. 24.
I asked friends in China — using encrypted apps that the Chinese surveillance state has declared illegal — to tell me why they are protesting the lockdowns. Here are four responses, minus the personal details that might get them arrested.
1. “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!”
“I am a software engineer from Beijing. The “zero-COVID” policy that has gone on for three years has devastated the economy and the company I work for is on the verge of collapse. I and other employees are lucky to receive one-third of our normal salary. We are all struggling to pay our bills and just to get through daily life.
My son is suffering, too. When he is allowed to go to school, he has to take a daily COVID test and wear a mask, which harms his health and social development. During lockdowns he is forced to stay at home and take online classes, but even then the school demands daily COVID tests. My son is spending his childhood living in fear.
My family loves to travel. Before “zero-COVID” we would go on outings almost every weekend, camping in the picturesque outdoors or kayaking down a clear river. Now we can no longer travel freely, enjoying the beauty of nature, and making new friends in distant places.
During lockdowns we can’t shop in the mall down the street, or even see friends and relatives who live next door. We can’t even leave our own apartment! Life has lost all meaning.
We are not afraid of COVID-19, but rather of the hell that we are now living.
We are tired of being deceived by the powerful year after year. We demand an immediate end to the wrongheaded and absurd “zero-COVID” policy.
Allow the people to enjoy all the freedoms that are guaranteed by our constitution. End the one-party dictatorship.
Give me liberty or give me death!”
2. “I Hope These Evil Days Soon End.”
“Everyone here in the southern city of Guangzhou has been given a QR code, which the authorities use to track our movements. Because my family accidentally entered into an area under lockdown, this tracking app sent out a red alert.
The Big Whites [government authorities dressed in head-to-toe PPE] came to our house, told us we were not allowed to go out, and then sealed us in. All of our mobile phones were constantly monitored, and a tracking system was even installed in our house to monitor everyone in our family 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
In all, we were under lockdown for more than three weeks. Not once during this time did the authorities provide any food or other assistance. Even as we were starving, they continued to threaten us if we complained.
We don’t want to live in fear all the time. As long as the “zero-COVID” policy continues, we could be locked down at home, or even sent away to a quarantine camp, at any time. People here have not only lost their freedom, but also their livelihoods and sometimes even their lives because of the lockdowns.
I myself have lost a well-paying job as design engineer, and have been unable to find another, all because I have not been vaccinated against the latest Omicron variant. No one is allowed to hire me. Nor am I allowed to fly on a plane or travel by high-speed rail.
I hope these evil days soon end. I want to be able to travel freely, without having to show my QR code at every restaurant, at every store, or even to cross the street. And one day, I hope to be able to speak freely, instead of anonymously, without fear of being imprisoned.”
3. “I Just Want to Live in a Normal Society.”
“I am a retired bank employee from the central province of Hubei [the original center of the pandemic]. I oppose the “zero-COVID” policy that makes it impossible to work and earn money to support your family, and the endless lockdowns that destroy people and the economy.
Why can’t we manage the virus humanely and scientifically, so that we can live in freedom? I just want to live in a normal society.
4. “Three Generations of Chinese People Cannot Speak Freely”
“I am from Beijing, in the Communist-occupied part of the Republic of China on Taiwan. For more than 70 years, three generations of the Chinese people have been unable to speak freely in their own country.
We want to be free of the control of the terrorist organization that calls itself the Chinese Communist Party.
I am right now locked up in my own home in the prison state run by the CCP, the same CCP that creates viruses in its labs and releases them to destroy mankind!”
Steven W. Mosher is the president of the Population Research Institute and the author of “Bully of Asia” and “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Pandemics.”
