As the coronavirus rampages through Shanghai, in the city’s worst outbreak since the start of the pandemic, authorities have deployed their usual hard-nosed playbook to try to stamp out the transmission. What was different is the response: an outburst of public discontent rarely seen in China since the chaotic early days of the pandemic, in Wuhan.
The Shanghai crisis is becoming more than just a public health challenge. It is also a political test of the zero-tolerance approach in general, on which the Communist Party has anchored its legitimacy.
For the better part of the past two years, the Chinese government has quelled most of the domestic criticism of its zero-tolerance Covid strategy, through a mix of censorship, arrests and success in keeping cases low. But in Shanghai, which has registered more than 70,000 cases since March 1, that is proving more difficult.
Shanghai is China’s most populous metropolis, its glittering commercial heart. It is home to a vibrant middle class and many of China’s business, cultural and academic elite. A large proportion of the Chinese foreign-educated live in Shanghai, and the per capita disposable income is the highest in the country.
Even in a country where dissent is dangerous, many there have long found ways to demand response from the government and take control of their own lives.
