On May 23rd, all of a sudden, a rumour/name started trending on twitter Chinese community: Chang Yanqing. The initial tweet claimed that this gentleman Chang, who is from Hangzhou, created 7 companies in April and May in Shanghai, during the lockdown. And the latest company he created is a food company. It was created on May 17th. And on 23rd, news reported that the new company was one of the few privileged companies designated as food supplier by a local government in Shanghai.
The tweet went on to claim that Mr. Chang is a younger brother of the second wife of deputy party secretary of Shanghai.
Why is it trending? If you remember, back in April, in Newsletter 56, we outlined how people with connection can get permit to buy super cheap from grocer and resell to residential committee super expensive and make very handsome profit. It seems that this Mr. Chang just created a company to do that. This narrative has been circulated on social media but no one had a clear proof that can be linked to a high level Shanghai official. So this rumour spread like fire.
The next day, an article on internet rebutted the rumour that Mr. Chang is related to deputy party secretary of Shanghai. In fact, it is not EVEN Mr. Chang, it is a Mrs. Chang, who is pregnant and very stressed by the rumour. Mrs. Chang said she worked in the food industry for years and had good relation with many suppliers. She applied to register the company in March, and was delayed because of the pandemic. She said that she got the designation as food supplier by the local government because of business connection and she provides competitive prices. Everything was business as normal.
According to the article, it seems that the company was singled out because some Shanghai citizen, out of boredom of a lockdown life, decided to check the credentials of the companies hired by the local government as reported in the news. The fact that her name is so similar to the name of the second wife of deputy party secretary of Shanghai made the story super juicy.
However, the same article also mentioned that most of the netizens are not persuaded by the twist in the story. They asked: when JD and Alibaba could not deliver products in the city, for what reason can this brand new company deliver food to local residents?
The author lamented the encroachment of government power on market economy and the disruption of supply chain in food distribution.
Lockdown for university students is particularly harsh. There have been many stories of students suffering from restrictions on taking shower or even going to toilets. On Chinese university campus, it is very common that 7-8 students (of the same gender) share one dormitory with bunker beds. They use common toilet and bathroom facilities. So being in lockdown and not letting out of their crowded dormitory must be very hard to bear.
Now that Shanghai lockdown is “eased” according to the government, university students were strongly advised to go back to their hometown. But according to social media, many local government outside Shanghai decided that they need to be quarantined again for 14 days in hotel rooms and 7 days at home afterwards. The students have to pay the hotel fees for 500-700 Yuan (around 100 USD) a day. It can easily total up to 10,000 yuan, which is beyond the means of the students and their family.
This video is about a student who just returned to Chengdu. Upon getting off the bus, she learned that she had to pay 500 Yuan a day for 14 days in a hotel. She said she had just spent 75 days in student dorm and she is so sick of such living arrangement, and she can not afford the fees. She was obviously very upset and emotional. The big white let her talk first, and it seemed there were others who wanted to talk also.
Some comments reminded people that local government is deep in debt, and they probably see this as a chance to collect some fiscal revenue.
Meanwhile, with Beijing following Shanghai’s footstep closely, college student in Beijing are rumoured to protest at night, on May 24th, their demand is mostly asking the authority to clarify the policy and pay attention to mental problems on campus.
According to social media, the article about Chinese Economy that Pony Ma agreed with so much got censored by Wechat. I have no idea why, but I am not surprised. Right now the Chinese authority is full of G-spots, anything and everything can trigger them.
The Xinjiang Police Files are another evidence of the brutality and pervasiveness of the prosecutions of Uyghur people. You can read the narration by the Western Scholar Adrian Zenz in his twitter thread. He is the one who received the files from the hackers.