{"id":227407,"date":"2021-01-27T18:13:20","date_gmt":"2021-01-28T02:13:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=227407"},"modified":"2021-01-29T15:39:55","modified_gmt":"2021-01-29T23:39:55","slug":"from-shijiazhuang-to-hong-kong-residents-under-lockdown-decry-inequalities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2021\/01\/from-shijiazhuang-to-hong-kong-residents-under-lockdown-decry-inequalities\/","title":{"rendered":"From Shijiazhuang to Hong Kong, Residents Under Lockdown Decry Inequalities"},"content":{"rendered":"

In China’s northern provinces, health authorities are contending with the most severe domestic spread of coronavirus since the initial outbreak more than one year ago. To the south, Hong Kong has been struggling to contain a weeks-long wave of double-digit cases, and has introduced “ambush style” localized lockdown measures for the first time. As Wuhan marks the one year anniversary of its bruising city-wide lockdown<\/a>, measures used to control the outbreak there have formed the playbook for how the rest of the country handles new ones. But the Chinese government has worked hard to censor and minimize stories<\/a> about negative effects of its most draconian measures, and one year on, familiar accounts of confusion, discrimination, and mental hardship continue to emerge.<\/p>\n

Cities across Hebei, Heilongjiang, and Jilin have imposed lockdown measures on their residents. In Tonghua, Jilin province, a plea for help from residents running out of food prompted a rare public debate online about the country’s lockdown measures. Sixth Tone’s Du Xinyu and Chen Qi’an reported that city authorities issued a public apology after a Weibo hashtag about residents’ struggles to find enough to eat generated over 300 million views:<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cDongchang District (where the city of Tonghua is located) has been severely hit with supply shortages. Residents there can\u2019t go out at all, and their front doors are taped (so authorities can tell if anyone is violating the stay-at-home order),\u201d Chen said. \u201cMany of us Tonghua locals were posting on Weibo, trying to make our situation become a trending topic to get the public\u2019s attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u2026] Starting this week, Tonghua residents will be supplied with half-price \u201cvegetable packages\u201d to sustain them for five days, local authorities said in an official announcement. Over 7,000 cadres and volunteers will be assembled to distribute the foodstuffs to residents, and citywide nucleic acid testing will begin Monday.<\/p>\n

However, not everyone in Dongchang District \u2014 which local authorities designated a \u201chigh-risk\u201d area last week \u2014 has seen these vows bear fruit. A Dongchang local surnamed Chen, who is not related to Chen Shutong, told Sixth Tone that while the vegetable packages were being delivered as promised to large residential complexes, some smaller communities, including the one where his family lives, are still waiting. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In Hong Kong, authorities issued an abrupt weekend lockdown order for one of the city’s poorest districts, where many residents live in tiny subdivided apartments, provoking confusion about how residents would obtain food and prevent community spread in their own living spaces. Authorities emphasized the lockdown should not be named as such, while Chief Executive Carrie Lam referred to the measures an “ambush style operation<\/a>” on Tuesday, and said more would be conducted in the future. The New York Times’ Vivian Wang and Tiffany May reported on the lockdown measures, which highlighted the extreme economic inequality in the city:<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Officials suggested that the dilapidated living conditions of many residents in Jordan had fueled the virus\u2019s spread. A densely packed neighborhood known for a lively night market, aging high-rise apartments and plentiful eateries, Jordan is home to some of the city\u2019s highest concentrations of tenements, the subdivided flats that are created when apartments are parceled out into two or more smaller ones.<\/p>\n

More than 200,000 of the city\u2019s poorest residents live in such units, where the average living space per person is 48 square feet \u2014 less than one-third the size of a New York City parking space. Some spaces are so tiny and restrictive that they are called cages or coffins.<\/p>\n

The same conditions that may have led to the outbreak also made the lockdown particularly painful for many residents, who worried about missing even a day of work or feared being trapped in poorly ventilated hotbeds of transmission. Officials admitted that they did not know exactly how many people lived in the subdivided apartments, complicating efforts to test everyone. Discrimination against low-income South Asian residents, many of whom are concentrated in the area, also caused problems. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Disclaimer: Getting labelled as \u201cblack journalist\u201d, \u201crioters\u201d, or being doxxed is within my expectations. But as a journalist who has witnessed the 48-hr lockdown in Jordan, and a long-time (20+ years) YMT resident, I feel like I have the right to write this: 1\/ https:\/\/t.co\/SSBcChRHOI<\/a><\/p>\n

— K (@K_krazy_xoxo) January 25, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n