Behind the Shanghai Lockdown

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Today we are going behind the scenes to look in a bit more detail at the Shanghai Covid lockdown.

Again, our aim is to illustrate there is better, more objective and relevant info re China available than what most western media provides. If you are a business, that is important.

Let’s be blunt here, the Shanghai Covid response was an unmitigated, gigantic disaster. In an earlier article we posed some of the logic and reasons behind the current Covid Zero policy China is currently pursing. Namely fear of triple or higher figure death rates, especially among the senior population who have a lower than average inoculation rate, yet present a higher than average mortality rate.

China’s Zero Covid Controversy

However, no matter how good the intentions were, the debacle in Shanghai ended up not just inconveniencing, but severely hurting it’s people on a massive scale. The economic cost is calculated in billions of Yuan. The human and social cost has still to be counted and is likely to run deep and long.

Not to mention the inestimable cost of the damage to Shanghai’s reputation and trust in administration in the short to medium term in the eyes of both local Chinese and long term foreign residents. There were also rumours on various expat channels that many foreign teachers would breaking contract and retun back home.

If this became the reality, then many of China’s elite private international schools would be stuck in a double bind. Not only is it too late for them to recruit new talent, but even if it were possible, China’s steel border control would stop new recruits from arriving.

So how on earth did something that was supposed to contain the illness and spare the people misery end up being such a monumental, outright utter shambles?

Clearly as a marketing business, we are in no position to be able to answer that. Equally clearly however was the shallow, mud raking, controversial, sensationalist reporting by western media backed by an administration struggling to solve its own social issues and citizen dissent.

Knowing full well that the average reader only looks at headlines, western media exploited this to their advantage. Click bait headings. Content that barely went much deeper.

The inference was that these “draconian” lock downs, mass imprisonment, concentration camps (which half a year back many other countries were also practising) were the work of an evil regime hell bent on controlling and subjugating its population. And brainwashed western readers swallowed it.

But the history and lead up to this colossal human misery and suffering predates Covid by many years and goes much deeper.

Shanghai: Paris of Asia.

Shanghai has always been thought of (and tends to behave) as a little bit different from the rest of China. In the 1920’s and before, it ranked as one of the world’s most fashionable “places to be” and be seen in. In the west at that time, Shanghai was often referred to as “The Paris of Asia.”

A cosmopolitan glamours city. Even today, many foreigners contend Shanghai is one of the worlds easiest and more comfortable cites to live in.

Shanghai in its turn has since the 1990’s been working to improve and build on this reputation by modernising its governance structure, involve the people more in decision making, preempt issues and generally improve the overall quality of life in Shanghai.

The city’s ultimate goal — the creation of a diverse network of governing bodies and mechanisms as part of a transition from a government-dominated society to a “small government-big society” model — seemed within reach.

So what the heck went wrong in Shanghai?

Obviously, quite a lot resulting in eventual panic, confusion and chaos as Covid exploited and magnified the cracks and weaknesses in the system. So for a deeper look we turn to Yu Ping, deputy editor-in-chief of the Journal of International Social Sciences, a publication of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. His article is translated here courtesy of Sixth Tone:

In a Lockdown, Hard Lessons for Shanghai’s Government Reformers

POST PRESS

Several hours after we published we found an interesting if not slightly cheeky article from the “Great Opionist” Elon Musk. In brief he warns that China’s shrinking population is about the get serious. Hmmm, so maybe THAT was the reason the CPC have been instigating province wide lockdowns?

Locking people together for 5 or 6 weeks hoping they might propagate? Will be interesting to watch for a Shanghai baby boom end of 2022 early 2023!

Introducing Everlyne YU

China Website Baidu Optimisation

In 2003 Everlyne Yu co-founded WPBeijing Marketing Studio with Englishman Peter Bic, now known as Bic Brands.

She began Uengager, as a SaaS MarTech company focused on customer engagement in 2017.

Hello, Nihao, I’m Everlyne

“I love to talk about and help people understand the amazing ways MarTech and SaaS can work to strengthen your business engagement with Chinese consumers.
I know you have questions or want to talk about your brand or business in China so please, drop me a line opposite. If you prefer live chat, call and talk to me live, in person direct.“

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Everlyne is also a key note speaker, lecturer and KOL on MarTech in China. She is CEO of Uengager, business development officer for Bicyu.

Everlyne hs been privileged to work with a variety of international organisations, from VW, Cushman Wakefield, Sodexo, Bristol Myers Squibb to local Chinese firms such as Midea, and OK Order.

If you’re looking for guidance, tips, advice on any aspect of starting or growing a business in China or training, coaching your existing China marketing team for excellence, be sure to check out Uengager. Home page and base for Everlyne Yu. Read her short bio – opposite left – or contact her direct – below – for a free, heart to heart chat.