“Politics first, safety second, science third.”

Rarely has a sentence caused my blood to boil like it did when I read this in “Wuhan: How the COVID-19 Outbreak in China Spiraled Out of Control” by @Dali_Yang.

A thread.

TL; DR: it’s worth your time. I had been looking forward to this book.

Having lived through the early days of the pandemic in Beijing and then experienced the traumatic Shanghai lockdown, I wanted to find out if my feelings, suspicions and understandings had been correct and what I might have missed.

Everybody knows the government in China censors topics it doesn’t like. What is less often discussed is how Chinese streaming platforms and other social media sites handle restrictions on content.

So let’s talk about that.
(A Thread.) The first thing to know is that ambiguity is everywhere.

Nobody seems to know where the red lines are and just like with a social media shitstorm nobody wants to get on the bad side. This means everyone is self-censoring.

That’s not a bug, it’s a feature. It's intentional.

Recently Health Checking Urinals have begun popping up in Men's restrooms all over Shanghai.

A private company is offering the urine analysis for RMB 20. Naturally I tried that out.

Here's how that went. I know what you're thinking: A Chinese Company - what about privacy?

Truth be told - I am middle-aged and haven't had a health check in a while. I'm more worried about knowing everything is ok and the convenience is unbeatable.

I'm finally actually doing what I know I should.

Shanghai Lockdown Stories, Redux:

Two years ago, on Mar 27, 2022, the Chinese government announced a five-day lockdown of Shanghai in response to a large Covid-19 outbreak.

People flooded supermarkets. We thought we were smart purchasing enough food for ten days.

https://twitter.com/chris__pc/status/1508075432331345926

The Pudong side went first, with the Puxi side of the city supposed to follow on April 1st.

https://twitter.com/chris__pc/status/1509038007130607618

Shanghai and the areas surrounding it is home to a large network of tunnels and bunkers, constructed as far as 80 years back.

A few have been turned into wine cellars and clubs. Recently I came across these images of the Shanghai International Wine Culture Museum.

A Thread. I have been to a wine club below Xietu Lu, a former civil defense facility whose entrance is near a school. But this museum, which I hope to visit soon, seems much larger in comparison.

I spent yesterday updating my photography portfolio with images from recent years. I thought this would be a good opportunity to post some of them here.

A thread, to which I will add a few pictures each day. Jiangwang Stadium, Yangpu District, Shanghai, China.

This location was turned into a quarantine camp during the Covid-19 pandemic in Shanghai. It was not among the largest such installations.

Shanghai is turning into the Ghost Town Beijing has already been for a week. Everybody seems either sick or staying in to avoid Covid.

This is a usually busy shopping street today: Many bars I looked at to view the World Cup Final last night were closed.

This is the Nanjing Road Shopping area right now. I'd say traffic is at most 10% of its usual volume.

A lot of folks in Hollywood thought the new Avatar sequel would bring in $2B+ at the box office.

They thought a lot of ticket sales would come from China.

I'm doubtful.
Here's why:

https://twitter.com/Lucas_Shaw/status/1604505850747490310

China is currently trying to emerge from its failed Zero Covid policy. Residents in Beijing, scared from years-long "Covid is the worst things that could ever happen to you" are staying indoors.

Reservations tomorrow for IMAX screens in Shanghai currently look like this:

I continue to be amazed at some of the stranger offerings one can find on Xianyu, Taobao's second-hand market.

This is an offer for an "expired Lithuanian ID."

I'd almost consider buying it to find out the story behind this but the price is too steep.

No refund. US passports ("Beautiful Country Travel Handbook"), expired and clipped, go for RMB 1600 here, roughly $230.

Pickpocket?
Lost item?
College student making a buck?

I am honestly saddened by this.

A few years back the team around Steven Yang at Anker struck me as genuinely working to build a quality IoT company, yet this is at best sloppy.

https://twitter.com/verge/status/1598127279133138944

Crisis PR communications is traditionally the part Chinese companies do worst at. It's incredibly difficult for them to say "I'm sorry, I was wrong."

While ostriches don't actually stick their heads into the sand they collectively often do.

But that would be a mistake.

I woke up this morning to a red health code and a flurry of phone calls.

"You have been to Cages (a large sports bar)."

I had not.
I've been locked down at home the past 24 hours.

No matter.
"We will come pick you up." Interestingly enough I have not been to Cages for six months. Why is my phone number registered there now? Are they fudging around with records?

Another call.
I am for sure getting picked up.

To anyone worried about another prolonged Lockdown coming their way in China: stock up now.

Get staple foods that don't spoil easily first: Rice, Instant noodles, etc.

The first two weeks of lockdown were most difficult in Shanghai. Prepare for this time. Get yourself way more bottled water than you otherwise think you'd need. Water stayed expensive for us during the Shanghai Lockdown with merchants requiring orders in excess of RMB 1,000 to make deliveries.

Consider buying large quantities of long-lasting milk, too.

"Why did you originally come to China?"
I struggled to answer this question yesterday.

But I do remember when I realized I had come to the right place.

This is the story of how I helped launch an American Luxury Car brand in China.

A Thread.
With twists and turns, of course. Roughly one year after I had arrived in Shanghai I received a call. A former boss at an advertising agency in Los Angeles had moved to Shanghai.

"I'm here to bring Lincoln to China but I've never lived here. You've been here a while, want to help me?"

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced a new policy aimed at easing national tourism: no restrictions as long as code is green and tests are done.

This might take a while to implement, of course.

zwgk.mct.gov.cn/zfxxgkml/scgl/… Key points:

- No more categorisation of cities/provinces as higher risk than others

- If you have a green code (not in high risk building, i.e. low risk) you will be good to go

- Just need nucleic acid results before travel and on arrival

The last few days have certainly been interesting but I found myself more intrigued by another story of Drama at the Congress: the Purge of the Yang Brothers in Dec 1992.

Strap in if you haven't heard about these two.

A Thread. It all started with a curt reference by David Shambaugh: two generals had been in control of the entire Chinese military and Deng Xiaoping orchestrated the largest shakeup of the Chinese military in the history of Communist rule to get rid of them.

Deng?

I had to know more.

What strikes me about the Hu Jintao moment today is the potential for it to have gone wrong had it been planned.

He could have refused, shouted, done a million things with Xi sitting next to him, which would have looked far worse for Xi. If one were to remove the figurehead of the last opposing faction it would be far safer to simply not let him enter and announce "old chap is not feeling well, thoughts&prayers, yaddayaddayadda."

I thought I'd offer a brief list of China books I'm currently reading or am hoping to get my hands onto soon.

If you have relevant books to recommend I'd appreciate you adding a comment.

I'm currently enjoying "China's Leaders - From Mao to now" by David Shambaugh... This is a fascinating read, even though Shambaugh spends uneven time on the various leaders.

Mao and his salacious personal life get plenty of attention, Deng Xiaoping surprisingly little.

This even though Deng had one hell of an interesting life.

An international school in Shanghai has sent notices to teachers forbidding them to "go out to restaurants, bars, clubs, or other public places" and threatening to hold them liable if their actions impact the school. Meanwhile I hear some folks in 7 day home quarantine are finding their Red QR Codes have turned back to Green while locks on doors and daily tests remain in place.

This causes problems when their HR demands proof they are unable to come to work.

The Lockdown around Dingxi Road is a lot larger than I had expected: it includes every building from Yan'An Rd to Anshun Rd (almost Huaihai) and Kaixuan Rd.

I happened to be nearby this morning, so here are a few pictures.

(While I was out Shanghai announced 2 new cases.) Restaurants near Dingxi/Yan'An Rd.

Interesting set of pictures from the "Four Pests Campaign" (除四害) 1958 to 1962.

People were told to help eliminate sparrows. Nests were destroyed and sparrows disturbed to keep them flying until they'd literally drop dead, falling out of the sky. Sparrows got on Mao's bad side because they were thought to eat valuable grain. They actually eat large numbers of insects (as well as grains) and without sparrows locust populations ballooned, leading directly to the Chinese Great Famine.

The Bund, People's Square but also places like Anfu Lu are surprisingly packed with Chinese tourists. I'd guess it's about 1/3rd of the otherworldly pre-Covid masses, still a sizable crowd. Luxury hotels like the Waldorf Astoria on the Bund seem very busy. Upon exiting I glanced up at the room windows, more of half showed signs of life inside.