The Economist - UK (2022-04-16)

TheEconomistApril16th 2022 China 37

W

henchinamadeEnglisha com­

pulsoryprimary­schoolsubjectin

2001,thesameyearit joinedtheWorld

TradeOrganisation,it wastakenasa sign

thattheonce­insularcountrywasopen­

ingup.Theeducationministrysaidthe

newlanguagerequirementwaspartofa

nationalstrategyto“facemodernisation,

facetheworldandfacethefuture”.

Twodecadeson,amida surgeof

nationalism,Englishseemstobefalling

outoffavour.Metro­ridersinBeijing,the

capital,willnoticethatthelanguagehas

beenremovedfromsomestationplac­

ardsandmaps(oftenreplacedwith

pinyin,theromanisedformofManda­

rin).Somesmallercities,suchasTaiyuan

andShenyang,aremakingsimilar

changes.TheprovinceofHainanhas

launcheda campaignto“cleanupand

rectify”kindergartennamesbypurginga

varietyofwords,including“world”,

“global”,“bilingual”and“international”.

Othermoveshaveservedtodown­

gradeEnglishteaching.Duringlastyear’s

legislativemeetingsa governmentad­

viserproposedremovingEnglishand

otherforeignlanguagesfromschools’

coresubjectsanduniversityentrance

exams.TheChinese,heclaimed,spend

toomuchtimelearningEnglish—andtoo

fewgoontouseit.Anyway,machine

translationtechnologywillsoonobviate

suchneeds,hesaid.OfficialsinShanghai

sharethesedoubts.Thecityhaslong

triedtodownplaytheimportanceof

Englishasanexamsubject.

China’sleader,XiJinping,wantshis

countrytoshowmore“culturalconfi­

dence”.A darkersideofthatcampaign

wasrevealedin2013,theyearafterhe

tookpower,whentheCommunistParty

circulated“DocumentNumberNine”,a

leakedpolicypaperbrimmingwith

paranoiaaboutforeignerswhofetishise

constitutionalismanduniversalvalues,

andwhoseekto“infiltrateChina’sideo­

logicalsphere”.Itcalledforvigilance

againstforeigndiplomats,journalists

andscholars.SomeChineseintellectuals

believetheanti­Englishmeasuresare

partofthisdriveforideologicalpurity.

ThepandemichassharpenedChina’s

inwardturn.Itsbordershavebeenlarge­

lyclosedforovertwoyears.Lastmonth

Chinesescholarswerebarredfromat­

tendinga conferenceonAsianstudiesin

Hawaii.Thatwasnosurprise,given

China’sstrictcovidcontrols.But,bizarre­

ly,officialscitedthesamecovidrestric­

tionswhenkeepingthescholarsaway

fromonlinesessions.

Onsocialmediasomehaveques­

tionedtheanti­Englishmoves.Indoing

so,theymightinvoketheParty’sown

words.Justa fewyearsago,itsofficial

mouthpiece,thePeople’sDaily, madean

impassionedargumentonlineinfavour

ofmultilingualism:“Foreignlanguage

learninghasbecomea toolforChinese

peopletotaketheinitiativetogotothe

worldandunderstandtheworld.”

Language

Lingua nothankya

B EIJING

WhyChinaisturningawayfromEnglish

peopletofearcovidrestrictionsasmuchas
theydothevirus.Asprovincialgovern­
mentsrollout pre­emptivemeasuresto
combatcovid,citizensaresharingguides
onhowtofreezevegetables,aswellasold
filmclipsinwhichpartyofficialsarecriti­
cisedforcaringmoreaboutpoliticalcor­
rectnessthanstarvingcommoners.
Peoplearefrustratedwiththegovern­
ment’sfailuretoadjustitscovidpolicyby,
for example, letting patients with mild
symptomsquarantineathome,insteadof
atisolationcentreswheretheyusescarce
resources.Expertsbelievecovidrulesare
causingavoidabledeaths.Theypointtoa
studypublishedlastyearbya teamaffiliat­
edwithChina’sCentreforDiseaseControl
andPrevention. Itfoundthatduringan
early lockdown in the city of Wuhan,
deathsfromchronicillnessesexceededex­
pectedratesby21%.Deathsfromdiabetes
exceededexpectedratesby85%andsui­
cidesby66%.Twoyearslater,someask,
hasthegovernmentlearnedanything?

Trustissues
Other countries that have moved away
fromstrictcovidpoliciesnowallowpeople
with infections to self­isolate. That re­
quiresgovernmentsto trustthatpeople
willactresponsibly.ButtheChinesegov­
ernment,obsessedwithcontrol,doesnot.
Instead,it tellscitizenstotrusttheparty.A
recenteditorialinthePeople’sDaily, anof­
ficialnewspaper,calledforShanghai’sres­
identsto“grittheirteeth”andholdtightto
theparty’sleadership.“Infightingthepan­
demic,trustismoreimportantthangold,”
it said. Residents of Shanghai are un­
moved.“Allthepoliciesthismonthhave
beenincomprehensible,”saysone.“They
sayonethingbutimplementanother.We
don’ttrustthesepoliciesanymore.”
InsteadthepeopleofShanghaiarerely­
ingoneachother.Theyusethetermzijiu
(self­salvation),astheyfillthegapsleftby
an overwhelmed party apparatus. Kelly

Wang,a volunteerinthedistrictofXuhui,

describeshowyoungerresidentscarefor

theirelderlyneighboursandorganisebulk

ordersoffood.Thestate,meanwhile,has

censoredthehashtag“buyinggroceriesin

Shanghai”onWeibo.“Weknowthatwe

can’tcountonthegovernmentanymore,”

saysMsWang.But,sheadds,“Thepeople

herearecapableandbrilliant.”

Shanghai,hometotherichandpower­

ful,getsa lotofattention.Butotherpartsof

China,suchasYunnanandXinjiang,have

gonethroughlonger,morerestrictivelock­

downs.ThecityofJilinhasbeenclosedfor

overa month.Residentstherehaveshared

videos of police publicly shaming resi­

dentsforcriticisingcovidrestrictionsina

privateonlinechatgroup.InShenzhena

shopownerfilmedstate­mediareporters

whorefusedtointerviewhimbecausehe

complainedaboutnotreceivinglockdown

subsidies.“We’reonlyheretoreportonthe

peoplebeinghelped,”says onereporter.

ButasChina’sstrictcovidcontrolsensnare

morepeople,itisbecominghardertocon­

vincethemthatalliswell. n

Levelling up

China, lockdown intensity in the top 100 cities*

By share of national GDP affected, 2022, %

Source:GavekalDragonomics *By GDP

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

March April

Severelockdown Fulllockdown

Targeted restrictions Partial lockdown

No restrictions