The Economist - USA (2021-02-20)

The Economist February 20th 2021 China 35

still too little vaccine to go around, says Ga-
vekal Dragonomics, a research company in
Beijing. Ernan Cui, an analyst at the firm,
has noted that although Sinovac is getting
ready to produce over 1m doses a day, its
factories were still only making less than
half that number in January. It is hard any-
where to produce large quantities of vac-
cine quickly with inactivated viruses. It
does not help that China also has to import
most of the glass vials for its vaccines.
This has not deterred China from offer-
ing its vaccines abroad. Xi Jinping, the
country’s leader, said last May that he
would ensure that Chinese vaccines were
made a “global public good”. Makers have
already signed contracts to export half a
billion doses to more than a dozen coun-
tries, including Indonesia, Brazil and Peru.
According to state media, the government
has also pledged to provide “vaccine aid” to
53 countries. It sees all this as an opportu-
nity to give China’s pharmaceutical sector
a shot in the arm, says Jennifer Bouey of
Georgetown University. Some countries
grumble that shipments from China are
being delayed. But in some cases China
may have no choice but to fulfil its com-
mitments. Because it has all but eradicated
the virus at home, it has had to look abroad
for places to conduct phase three trials. In
return, it has promised host countries pri-
ority delivery of its shots.
China may calculate that it can afford a
leisurely inoculation campaign. Because
of its success in eradicating the virus, there
is little sense of urgency. In the Ipsos sur-
vey, a third of Chinese who said they pre-
ferred not to take the vaccine felt that the
virus was not common enough to pose a
threat. Few chafe at mask-wearing or at the
tests they must take for some interprovin-
cial travel. Almost all support China’s
closed-border policy aimed at preventing
the virus from being reseeded at home.
But China’s efforts to keep infections as
close to zero as possible come with a cost.
“Citizens will not tolerate a single case of
infection either, now,” points out Huang
Yanzhong of the Council on Foreign Rela-

tions, an American think-tank. As he

notes, as long as China keeps its borders

shut it will lack a clear incentive to vacci-

nate its citizens. That will mean herd im-

munity will take longer to achieve and de-

lay China’s reopening to the world.

Virologists reckon that around 70% of

the population needs protection, either

from having caught the disease or through

inoculation, to reach the herd-immunity

threshold beyond which the epidemic

abates. However this number is higher for

new, more transmissible variants. For Chi-

na to attain just 60% will take at least until

the end of 2022, reckons the Economist In-

telligence Unit, our sister company. That is

a year longer than the briskest vaccinating

countries will take to reach that level. If

they open up while China remains shut, it

will become harder for Chinese officials to

convince citizens that their approach is

sound. Sooner or later, says Mr Huang,

“they will need to educate people to learn

to live with this virus.” 

Lagging behind

Covid-19 vaccination doses per 100 people

February 16th 2021 or latest available

Source: Our World in Data

India

China

European Union

United States

Britain

Israel

806040200

F

or a generationof young Chinese,

American television shows like “The

Big Bang Theory”, “Breaking Bad” and

“Sex and the City” were their first taste of

life in the West. Growing up with limited

English inside China’s “great firewall”,

millions of them watched pirated ver-

sions online, with the help of subtitles

produced by volunteers. Many of the

translators were Chinese students, both

in China and at universities abroad. They

provided their skills for little reward,

except the glory of an on-screen credit, to

streaming services that allowed free

access or offered super-cheap subscrip-

tions. Being accepted into such firms’

“translation groups” was a badge of

distinction. Standards were high and

competition for membership was fierce.

It will not be in future, however.

On February 3rd 14 people from Chi-

na’s largest such streaming firm, Renren

Yingshi (meaning “everyone’s movies

and shows”), were arrested in Shanghai

for alleged copyright infringements.

Since then, many other such outfits have

gone underground or disbanded. For

many internet users, this has been a sad

moment. On social media they bade

farewell to what they described as some-

thing irreplaceable: entertainment free

of the dead hand of China’s censors, and

with far more accurate subtitles than

most officially approved content.

Demand for Renren Yingshi’s of-

ferings was fuelled by tight supply. China

is one of four regions without Netflix:

the others are North Korea, Syria and

Crimea. Even though it is one of the

fastest growing film markets, China

approves only a few foreign films for

screening in cinemas each year. It is

possible to watch some foreign shows on

officially approved streaming sites. But

they are heavily censored—so much so in

the case of “Game of Thrones” that the

plot is hard to follow. Such restrictions

helped to turn translation-group services

into big operations. Police in Shanghai

said Renren Yingshi had produced more

than 20,000 television shows for its 8m

registered users.

Renren Yingshi’s popularity is evident

in the debate that still surrounds it on

Weibo, a Twitter-like platform. Posts

with hashtags relating to the clampdown

have garnered more than a billion views.

In one of them, Yan Feng of Fudan Uni-

versity in Shanghai said the subtitling

effort had been one of Chinese history’s

great translation projects, on a par with a

drive to render Western literature into

Chinese in the 19th century. Uncensored

foreign films and shows will remain

accessible to Chinese viewers with for-

eign-language skills and software that

can scale the great firewall. But most

people are unlikely to try, not least be-

cause the government disapproves.

Netizens have been sharing the poetic

Chinese term, lindong jiangzhi.It is one

that subtitling enthusiasts have used to

translate a phrase made famous by

“Game of Thrones”: winter is coming.

Pirated films

Winter is coming

HONG KONG

China has lost a great source of ( illegal) entertainment