The Economist - UK (2022-05-07)

TheEconomistMay7th 2022 China 55

elitearethinkingaboutdoingthesame.
OnWeChat,a popularmessagingapp,
searches for “immigration” increased
morethanfourfoldbetweenearlyandmid­
April.UsersofWeibo,China’sversionof
Twitter,publishedmorethan78,000posts
withtheruncharacterinMarchandApril
(seechart).Spikesintheirfrequencycoin­
cidedwithtraumaticeventsinShanghai,
suchaswhenanasthmapatientwasre­
fusedmedicaltreatmentanddied,orwhen
videosofinfectedchildrenseparatedfrom
theirparentsspreadonline.
“It’slikeanalarmbellhasgoneoff,”says
MirandaWang, ayoung Chinesevideo­
producer who moved to Shanghai after
studyinginBritain.TheChinesemetropo­
lisusedtofeellikea globalcity,similarto
London,shesays.Butaftermorethan 50
daysoflockdown,MsWanghasbegunre­
searchingwaystoleave.“Nowwerealise,
Shanghai is still China’s Shanghai,” she
says.“Nomatterhowmuchmoney,educa­
tionorinternationalaccessyouhave,you
cannotescapetheauthorities.”
Chinese internet users have crowd­
sourced a repository of run­philosophy
readingsonGitHub,a platformforopen­
sourcecodingandrarerefugefromcensor­
shipinChina.Theretheydiscusswhyto
run,wheretorunandhowtorun,archiv­
ingstoriesofsuccessfulemigrationtova­
riouscountries.Torunisnottoseekplea­
sureorprofit,oneessaystates,buttoes­
cape a country that is speeding in the
wrongdirection.“Surelya sheepthathas
beenhurtby beatingcan tryto flee?”it
asks.“Thereinliesthetruthofrun.”
But to run iseasier said than done.
FlightsoutofChinaarefewandexpensive.
Americahastightenedvisarestrictionson
Chinesestudentsoverexaggeratedfearsof
spying.Inthenameofpandemicpreven­
tion,Chinaisalsomakingit harderforciti­
zenstomovearound.Since 2020 theNa­
tional Immigration Administration has
stopped issuing travel documents for
“non­essentialreasons”.Theagencyhand­
edout335,000passportsinthefirsthalfof
2021,only2%ofthenumberissuedover

thesameperiodin2019.Theauthoritiesin

onecity,Leiyang,havebeenconfiscating

citizens’passportstopreventtravel.“We’ll

returnthemafterthepandemicisover,”

saysa public­securityofficial.

Would­beemigrantsknowthattheyare

intheminority.A youngfinanceworkerin

Beijingsaysherpeers“seenofuture”in

China.ButmostChinese,especiallyolder

generations, are “numb”, she says. Ms

Wangfearsthatleavingwouldmeanlosing

touchwithherparents. “Calmyourheart,”

hermotherscoldsheronWeChat. “Fillit

withhome,parentsandmotherland,finda

steadyjobandyou’llbefine.”

A white­collarworkerinShanghaiused

to take his freedomfor granted. Itwas

“somethingtochataboutovera pint”,he

says.Now,stuckathomeandlackingfood,

hefearsbeingtakentoanisolationcentre

ifhetestspositiveforcovid.YetinChina,

helaments, memoriesareshort. People

willforgetaboutthechaosinShanghai;the

governmentwillmaintainitsstrictcovid

controls.SuchdespairiswhysomeChi­

nesearelookingtorun.n

Searching for a way out

China, 2022

Sources:ShanghaiMunicipalHealthCommission;Weibo

6 5 4 3 2 1 0

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

March April

Shanghai,dailynew

covid-1 cases,’000

Weibo posts with the Chinese

character run, ’000

I

n thevillageofAnbanginYunnan,a

south­western province, people of

social stature are heaving a sigh of relief.

In the past, what a delicate matter it was

to point out bad behaviour among resi­

dents. There was etiquette to consider,

and the risk of causing offence. Recently,

however, Anbang has set up a “moral

review council” to praise the worthy and

criticise the errant. The local government

says the mood has changed. Now the

village elite can use these meetings to

exercise their “right to speak”.

In some parts of China, such councils

have been a feature of rural life since the

1980s. Their members—mainly drawn

from the ranks of village powerholders—

have met regularly to praise those who

are well­behaved and denounce others’

misdeeds, face to face. By 2018 more than

half of China’s provinces had them,

according to Shaoying Zhang of Shanghai

University of Political Science and Law.

In a paper last July, he said the council­

lors were “like the village priest or the

Protestant pastor in rural European

contexts centuries ago”. 

In the past couple of years, the central

government (ever keen to tighten social

controls) has been stressing their impor­

tance. Like other places, Anbang has

been using its council to enforce covid

controls—summoning selected villagers

to point out their failings, such as resist­

ing vaccination. The humiliation does

not stop in the meeting room. Offenders

may be subjected to public shaming by

having their names displayed on a mo­

rality notice board for all to see.

As Mr Zhang points out, councillors

are usually male. Their values reflect

patriarchal traditions. Those chosen for

praise are often women deemed to have

shown exemplary behaviour in their

roles as mothers­in­law or daughters­in­

law (a relationship that is often tense in

Chinese villages, where married women

usually live with their husband’s family).

Respect for the elderly is also prized. Bad

behaviour can cover a wide range of sins:

littering, gambling, urinating in public

or “superstition”, such as burning paper

money for the dead. 

It can also include behaviour that the

Communist Party regards as threatening

to stability. Officials in the countryside

are hypervigilant about people who

travel to cities to complain to govern­

ments there about injustices they have

suffered in their villages. Such petition­

ing is legal as long as the person involved

does not bypass their nearest city au­

thority. But, to protect their own backs,

village officials are quick to dismiss any

petitioning as “unreasonable”, and thus a

matter for the morality police. 

Baoshan, the municipality to which

Anbang belongs, claims the councils are

a success. By the end of last year it had

128 of them. “The seeds of morality and

civilisation have spread to everyone’s

hearts,” the city’s government boasts. 

Moralitycourts

Name and shame

To keep villagers in line, officials are turning to informal tribunals