The newest COVID-19 outbreak in Hebei, first detected within the provincial capital of Shijiazhuang, has triggered a strict lockdown likened by some to wartime measures. Folks with Hebei residency (hukou) have been abruptly stranded, unable to get to work or search medical therapy in next-door Beijing. Within the annals of pandemic discrimination, Hebei is the brand new Hubei, in keeping with self-media author Wei Zhou (@维舟), who mirrored on the social implications of such ostricization in a public WeChat publish from round January 17. Wei Zhou’s musing on Hebei’s involuntary sacrifice to the seat of nationwide energy bought 49,000 visits within the seven hours between when it was posted and when the censors bought to it:
Hebei: The Ache of “Huge Image Consciousness”
1
At first look, the start of 2021 appears to be like like a repeat of 2020. Over a three-day interval starting on January 2, 19 symptomatic and 40 asymptomatic instances of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Shijiazhuang, thrusting the usually inconspicuous capital metropolis of Hebei Province into the nationwide highlight. On January 4, the town entered a “state of conflict,” and a day later, the provincial authorities declared that the “total province was instantly getting into a state of conflict.” It appeared that Hebei had abruptly turn into the Hubei of 1 12 months in the past.
It’s been tumultuous occasions since. Typically it appears like a repeat of final 12 months’s Hubei, and different occasions it feels even worse. On January 9, all Shijiazhuang public bus and taxi providers have been suspended, forcing medical and safety personnel to drive or e-bike themselves to work. These with no automobile have been left with no possibility however to stroll, a proposition made worse by the chilly climate this time of 12 months. These developments are as soon as once more coinciding with winter break, complicating school college students’ journeys house for the vacation. These returning to Shijiazhuang are discovering they “made it to the doorstep however can’t enter,” some spending 2,000 yuan over a nine-day interval—some returning college students have reportedly walked 20 kilometers [over 12 miles] to get again house.
Village residents who examined optimistic for COVID-19 have been swiftly moved to quarantine services, however apparently their lodging weren’t prepared for them. In some instances, sufferers arrived solely to search out the lodging have been already full. Many have been left exhausted. Strict disinfection protocols have been applied in these villages, and residents taken away to quarantine have been unable to convey any pets or livestock. Many of those animals have been sadly unable to outlive unattended over the ten-plus-day disinfection interval.
Lockdown choices have been made similar to that—one phrase, and cities have been closed off. Residents have been left no time to purchase provides, and people sheltering at house confronted the challenges of fundamental survival. These in cost supplied no steerage on how you can cope with the meals difficulty brought on by the lockdown. As a result of anybody getting into the town needed to have a unfavourable nucleotide check, the vans that usually ship the town’s meals provide have been abruptly denied entry. Even volunteers like those that helped final 12 months in Wuhan weren’t allowed in, as a result of a lot of them hadn’t gotten the outcomes of their nucleotide exams.
There’s additionally another excuse for the hovering anxiousness within the area: the precept of “defending the capital.” As a result of Beijing is basically surrounded on all sides by Hebei, [the town of] Langfang, close to the border of Beijing, was positioned below full administrative lockdown on January 12, despite the fact that there was just one mid-level danger space within the metropolis (a neighborhood in Gu’an County). The aim was clear: to create a firewall round Beijing, making certain the capital was insulated from the pandemic.
The actual fact is, the shutdown of Wuhan final 12 months wasn’t solely for the good thing about Wuhan residents—it’s typically considered a form of sacrifice for the remainder of China. In preventing the pandemic “in any respect prices,” the folks of Wuhan have been the “price.” Nonetheless, Hebei’ers’ “big-picture consciousness” is totally different this time. They know their sacrifice isn’t for themselves, however for others—that’s, for the capital.
2
On January 14, fencing was put in alongside the Chaobai River within the city of Yanjiao, Hebei. The river divides Yanjiao from Beijing. Tents have been arrange on the southern finish of Friendship Bridge, and safety personnel now guard the bridge 24 hours a day.
All this was to “stop the danger related to passage [across the bridge].” However the true cause is that this: There are over 300,000 folks dwelling in Yanjiao, and ever because the pandemic started, their journeys to work have turn into exceptionally troublesome. A one-hour commute has became a three-hour commute. Some folks even thought of “slipping via the border” to Beijing by crossing over the frozen river.
Some have joked that as quickly because the pandemic hit, Beijing became West Berlin. Others have parodied Trump: “Construct the wall! Paid by the Hebeier, and make Beijing nice once more [sic]!”
Yanjiao is called “Hebei’s No. 1 City.” It’s half of a bigger county-level metropolis referred to as Sanhe, one of many three counties that comprise the “Northern Three Counties” of Langfang Prefecture, an exclave of Hebei separated from the remainder of the province by Beijing and Tianjin municipalities. Ordinarily, so long as there aren’t any instances of the virus within the space, this space needs to be thought-about even lower-risk than Beijing, as a result of you would need to first cross via Beijing or Tianjin with a view to enter Yanjiao by foot. However this issues not, as Yanjiao remains to be a part of “Hebei.”
This “one measurement matches all” strategy isn’t the one difficulty. The state of affairs additionally demonstrates a sure mind-set in Chinese language society: Judgments are primarily based not on the habits of the person, however somewhat on the group to which that particular person belongs. Due to this mind-set, regardless of how one have been to plead his or her innocence, it gained’t make a distinction, since you’re seen as a uniform unit of a homogenous bigger entire—not as a novel particular person.
Below the floor of this pandemic is the concern of “contamination.” As soon as “Hebei’ers” have been decided to be a supply of contamination, all of them turned suspect. Many would argue that is essential to cease the unfold of the virus, and there’s at all times going to be some individuals who must make sacrifices. Drastic occasions require these sorts of drastic, one-size-fits-all measures to maintain issues from getting even worse.
However there’s an unavoidable downside with this: specifically, the way in which these teams are outlined is generally arbitrary. In case you do take such drastic measures, why is it that “Heibei’ers” are the issue? The infections have been in Shijiazhuang, so why aren’t “Shijiazhuang residents” the scapegoat, or else the residents of these villages? And aren’t all of those folks Chinese language? So, shouldn’t we be suspicious of all Chinese language folks? Let’s take it to the intense—aren’t all of those instances occurring amongst Earthlings?
3
Maybe as a result of I’m a father, to me, the saddest story I noticed concerning the “provincial lockdown” was from a father. The person’s little one fell critically in poor health—proper on the night time earlier than the “state of conflict” started. Because of this, Beijing Youngsters’s Hospital would merely not allow them to in. “No matter well being report didn’t matter, being from a low danger area didn’t matter—so long as you have been from Hebei, Beijing Youngsters’s Hospital wouldn’t take you, no exceptions!”
He struggled to remain calm: “We Hebei’ers have shut down a lot of our energy-intensive business for the nice of everybody’s air high quality. Our GDP has fallen from the highest ten to thirteenth. Hebei’ers make nice sacrifices for the nice of the capital—that’s plain for all to see. Now with the pandemic, why is Beijing treating us like this?”
The sacrifice of which he speaks is a “conditional sacrifice,” in that he believes Hebei’s “sacrifice” needs to be repaid with higher therapy. However in actuality, their sacrifice will not be conditional. Below a system of ethical absolutism, solely whole, selfless sacrifice is worthy of reward—and it could possibly’t be exchanged for something.
Absolute loyalty is unconditional. “If the king needs the minister to die, the minister should die,” because the saying goes. Absolute filial piety—youngsters fully filial to their dad and mom regardless of how their dad and mom deal with them—is identical means. There’s an implied mutual profit: “I’m good to my dad and mom, and so they need to even be good to me,” however this inherently contradicts the hierarchical system.
Such absolute moralism will not be random. That is one thing that permeates China’s social consciousness. The pandemic has revealed that Chinese language society seeks absolute safety. As I mentioned final 12 months, as Chinese language society confronted the three-pronged dilemma (uncertainty, unreliability, and insecurity), what folks needed was absolute safety. Nonetheless, absolute safety invariably results in absolute management.
In his e-book “Propaganda: Concepts, Discourse and its Legitimization” [宣传：观念、话语及其正当化], Liu Hailong writes, “Utopia has a particular admiration for order, and it regards ‘filth’ and uncertainty as disaster.” COVID-19 is exactly this sort of disaster: it without delay is the supply of an infinite quantity of uncertainty, and likewise conjures up concern of “filth” (contamination). As a way to reestablish order, the Chinese language persons are prepared to “pay no matter value it takes.” It’s only a matter of who finally ends up paying. Typically, it’s society’s weakest or those that self-sacrifice, willingly or unwillingly.
Because of this, some folks say “Hebei Sturdy” from a spot of sincerity (particularly Wuhanese, who went via comparable ache). However different occasions, the admiration Chinese language folks have for dedication and sacrifice jogs my memory of what archeologist Lothar von Falkenhausen mentioned on the subject of Chinese language cultural psychology. By the Warring States interval, Chinese language held a contradictory, advanced twin mentality towards their ancestors: they have been without delay the item of nice reverence, but in addition of concern. Folks got here up with methods to separate themselves from their ancestors, offering tombs with the fabric pleasures of life in order that they might keep within the underworld.
However up right here within the land of the dwelling, we’re all interconnected. It might appear at first look that division helps shield us (no less than a few of us), however the reality is that this: absolute safety doesn’t have a 360-degree view. There are holes in any division or hierarchy. It’s no coincidence that this outbreak in Hebei occurred within the countryside.
Some folks say that “the virus can distinguish between metropolis and countryside.” Rural villages are actually the weak hyperlink in pandemic management efforts. At its root, this can be a operate of the separation of metropolis and countryside. Maybe some folks assume that since “sources are restricted, we will solely prioritize what’s vital.” Certainly, it might be unimaginable to arrange fortifications all over the place. However we should acknowledge that this can be a trade-off. Ultimately, we’re all in the identical boat. [Chinese]
Translation by Little Bluegill.
