Newsletter 13 - Xi’an shows you how to start Martial Law for COVID the Chinese Way
Warning: this is not a holiday story and there will be no happy ending.
The Martial Law
(rough translation) Important Notice:
The city goverment declares: Starting from 8:30 am today, the police department of Xi'an starts Martial Law in all of the streets in the city. The police will stop and check everyone who is outside wandering around and arrest them. The individual and the company he/she works for will bear severe punishments, and the company's juridical person will be charged with crime. Residents are forbidden to go out of their residential areas to wander outside. Anyone that wanders out and is arrested, he/she should be fired by his company and the executives of the company also bears responsibilities. Please spread the message!!!
Arrest on the streets
This video is being circulated on Twitter. It shows a woman with a shopping bag being taken by police.
Internet reactions
Someone found this message on Weibo, and posted it to Twitter:
(rough translation) Our leaders of Xi'an and their policies are really smart.
All of sudden, they announced lockdown, then they told the citizens to be rational, telling us that there are enough food, no need to panic buy.
Many citizens believed them (especially young people), they did not panic buy, they did not store food. Then all residential areas are closed off. You can only go out once every two days. They told us that there are enough supplies and the price will be stable. Those who believed them only bought food for two days!
Then your home is closed off, you can't get out, even for shopping for food!
Those who believed them have no more food. The convenience stores around the residential areas are also closed. No delivery from the residential areas either. And you can never get the food on line (because they are sold out fast). Some residential areas have supermarkets, but the price is going through the roof. A few residential areas even make it harder for people to buy things!
A residential area: a gated community of multiple buildings, with a guard at each gate, a management and some facilities, like supermarkets, and provided services, like organising for deliveries.
But in reality, because almost all work has stopped, ordinary people have little money. Many people has loans to pay. They don't know when they will be able to work again to get paid. Now, they are facing sky high price to buy food. How do they live before their next pay day???
You argue what if the leaders don't know these? I believe they know all of these very well. But how can they have empathy with ordinary folks?
In the news, everything is super. But I say, whoever understands it understands it.
Twitter comments:
(rough translation)
Please don't say the old folks are barbaric. They are the ones who understand the politics of the Party most. If you don't panic buy, you are just waiting to be slaughtered.
Young people should experience more of the iron fists when young. If not, you will be squashed when you are old.
Those who were born after 1985 have no memories of the sufferrings. They have no understanding of our history.
Many replies below this message: I am that young people.
While many people in Xi’an are going hungry today, some people on Twitter ask: “How many days does it take from losing our freedom of speech to being starved?”