50 China The Economist April 30th 2022
A
skurbanChineseif theyseeupsides
tolifeincovid19lockdown, and a
commonreplyis:I know my neighbours
better.Thisisespecially true of pet
owners.Tensofmillions of Chinese are
currentlyunabletoleave their homes. All
facebeingtakentoisolation centres,
shouldtheytestpositive or be declared
closecontactsofa viruscarrier. A grim
fateforanyone,centralised quarantine is
terrifyingforpetowners, who must
scrambletofinda shelter or someone to
fostertheiranimals.If they fail, the
creaturesmaystarvein an empty flat
or—ashashappenedin several cities—be
bludgeonedtodeathby workers sent to
disinfecthomes.
Onepositiveresult is an outbreak of
neighbourlyspirit.Nationwide, online
petrescuegroupchats have formed to
swaptipsonsheltersand petfood deliv
eries,andtodrawuplists of neighbours
willingtofoster.Some 4,000 petown
ers,Chineseandforeign, have joined
groupchatsinShanghai alone. Animal
loversconnectedbysocial media have
savedfurrylivesbylobbying local offi
cialsorsecurityguards bent on killing.
TodatetheWorldHealth Organisa
tionhasfoundonlyfarmed mink and pet
hamsterscapableofgiving covid to
humans,witha caseinvolving a white
taileddeeralsounder review. Federal
healthofficialsinAmerica call infection
risksfrompetsingeneral low. No nation
alpolicyinChinaidentifies pets as virus
vectors.Instead,powers of life and death
havebeendelegatedto grassroots offi
cialstoldtostopcovid at almost any cost.
Severalpetshavepaid the price. In earlyAprila corgiwasfilmedbeingkilled with
a spade by a guard in Shanghai. Moments
earlier, his despairing, quarantine
bound owner had set him loose outside
his housing compound, not knowing
where else to turn.
In Shanghai, petowners shared
screenshots of a Chineselanguage re
lease form used when some locals were
quarantined. Near the end it authorised
petkilling. With Beijing intent on beat
ing back an Omicron wave, the capital’s
petlovers are now mobilising. Unbe
known to Little Black, a sixyearold mutt
being walked this week in eastern Beij
ing, he has fosterparents on standby. “I
have arranged it with my neighbours
already,” said his owner, a middleaged
woman. “We won’t leave the dog alone.”PetsandcovidLeave no dog behind
B EIJING
Because the authorities might kill itKeeping a lookout for hamstersjing’s authorities continuetousegentlein
ducements, rather than force,tonudgeold
people to accept vaccinations.
Zerocovid measures are distracting
from that effort. As the firstroundofmass
testing began in Beijing, allwasoddlyquiet
at a blue tent erected as avaccinestation
for old people. Health workershadallbeen
diverted to help with the testing.Thatdis
appointed Song Wenxian,a spry85year
old who had come to the tentinsearchofa
second shot. Her family,though,hasno
plans to vaccinate her husband,whois 86
and suffers from mild dementia.“Hecan’t
walk and he doesn’t go out.Sowe’renot
getting him one,” Ms Songsaid.Beijing’s
elite status provides reassurance.“Ithink
the leaders pay closer attentiontoBeijing,”
Ms Song suggested.
China’s supreme leader, Xi Jinping,
seems to believe that therightmixofsci
ence, perseverance and partyspirit will
lead to a successful containmentofthevi
rus. On April 25th he visitedRenminUni
versity in Beijing, sittinginonpolitical
ideology classes, speakingabout“redheri
tage” and basking in shoutsofloyaltyto
the party from unmaskedstudents.For
eign diplomats in Beijingworrythatheis
allowing politics to get inthewayofgood
policy. So do critics of the government.
Some point to Shanghai,whereZhang
Wenhong, a prominent doctoradvisingthe
city on its covid response,usedtosaythat
measures should not be overlydisruptive
to business or normal life. Recently,
though, he has been overshadowedbyap
pointees like Ye Caide, a practitioneroftra
ditional Chinese medicinewhohasgone
from working at a communityhealthcen
tre in Beijing to overseeingShanghaiona
national pandemiccontrolteam. MrYe,
who has won several awardsfromtheparty
for heroic volunteering, toldstatemedia
that Shanghai’s covid controlsshouldbe
tightened, for example byinstallingelec
tronic sensors and seals onpeople’sdoors.
If this is how China is goingtochooseits
“experts”, one netizen quipped,“wewon’t
get out of lockdown even inthenextlife.”
The number of infectionsinShanghai
is dropping at last. But thecostsofthe
state’s anticovid measuresarebecoming
clearer. Foreigners are leavingenmasse.
Many analysts have revised down their
forecasts for economic growththisyear.
Investors have ditched Chinesesecurities
at a record rate, puttingpressureonthe
yuan (see Finance section).
The mood is relativelyupbeat inthe
capital, though. A workerat a massage
shop in Beijing shrugged off questions
about whether he was stockinguponpro
visions. “We Chinese peopledon’tworry
about a crisis until it hits,”hesaid,nursing
a cigarette. “You have to believeintheparty
and the state, right?” ManyofShanghai’s
residents once felt similarly.nHowChinaisruledChain, reaction
M
ost chinesewith an internet con
nection have probably seen the video
of a mentally ill woman chained by the
neck in the province of Jiangsu. Identified
as Yang Qingxia, she was sold to her hus
band in 1998 and bore him eight children.
Ms Yang’s plight was revealed in February.
The next month another trafficked wom
an, with the surname Tao, was discoveredlocked in a cage in Shaanxi province. Her
husband paid 8,000 yuan ($1,220) for her
in 2010. The cases sparked outrage. A well
known lawyer pointed out that the punish
ment for buying a woman in China is just
three years in jail—less than that for buy
ing two endangered parrots.
As a result, lowranking officials were
sacked or disciplined in both provinces.
The publicsecurity ministry declared a
“special action” to crush trafficking. Mem
bers of the National People’s Congress
(npc), China’s legislature, suggested
changes to the law, such as locking up buy
ers of women for the same amount of time
(up to ten years) as sellers. The actions
show that the state is responsive, say offi
cials. Their claims are in keeping with Chi
na’s broader argument to be a “DemocracyB EIJING
Grim tales test China’s claim to be
governed by and for the people