Covid hits the capital

China claims Beijing is the true test of its pandemic policy

Never mind all that chaos in Shanghai

If china’s public-health policies were decided by the people of Shanghai, the country would abandon its "zero-covid” strategy, which uses mass testing and strict lockdowns to crush the virus. The city’s 25m residents, among whom are some of China’s richest and most influential people, have complained loudly about the grim weeks of lockdown they have endured. But Beijing is where China’s covid strategy is devised. For now, the mood is rather different in the capital.

Beijing’s 22m residents responded with wary resignation to news that the Omicron variant had been spreading stealthily in the capital for days. On April 27th mass testing revealed more than 150 infections. The next day many schools went online. Some neighbourhoods were sealed off. But after an initial flurry of panic-buying, shops quickly restocked. Pensioners could be seen in parks, enjoying the smoggy spring sunshine. Local pride, and a sense of privilege born of proximity to power, help to explain why some Beijingers sound confident that they will escape the harsh, chaotic lockdowns imposed on Shanghai.

Many of Beijing’s residents have a measure of disdain for Shanghai, the country’s more Western-oriented commercial hub. The Shanghainese are "unreasonable troublemakers”; their officials deserve blame for not locking down fast enough, says a typical resident of the capital. Censorship and propaganda have helped shape such feelings. Shanghai’s suffering is glossed over in news reports. Angry outbursts by the city’s residents on social media are quickly erased by state censors.

Officials in Beijing seem to regard Shanghai as a rare exception to their zero-covid success story—China has had a lower death rate from the virus than any big country and stronger economic growth. It is certainly not taken as a lesson that the policy needs to change. Rather, officials in Shanghai are chided for being too loose and moving too slowly. The central government has pushed for more testing and stricter lockdowns. Many residents recently found green fences outside their compounds, to seal them in.