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The morning walk through the Pekingese neighborhood of Dongzhimen ends at Seven Eleven. It is the only place open in the area where you can buy something to eat. And that in this street there are dozens of shops and restaurants that overlap each other. But even McDonalds is closed.

It is true that every day, in Beijing, more cars are seen crossing the large avenues that cut the city. Something, actually, laughable when compared to the usual bustle of a month ago. The only thing that has not changed is the immovable guardians who guard the government buildings and embassies. The thousands of cameras posted every few meters on the poles and traffic lights are also in place.

"Now, facial recognition should not work well because we all go with masks and, in my case, I also always wear glasses to avoid touching my eyes. I can do whatever I want to later know who I am," jokes Nuala , a student of Hispanic Philology of Beijing. It is the first time he leaves his urbanization in recent days. And he doesn't know when they will resume classes at the university. "I have had so much free time that I decided to download a VPN to jump the censorship and open an account on Facebook and Twitter. I have also been able to read other news about the coronavirus and the role of the Chinese government in this crisis," continues this twenties.

She has it clear: "In my house, with my family, we have discussed whether everything possible has been done to stop the virus and if the information they have told us is real. My parents defend the management. I agree with quarantine, but I don't believe the data. " Something similar was told yesterday by Gao, a Wuhan boy who worked as a receptionist in a hotel until quarantine began. "My parents and I had never had a fluid conversation until now. We are still discussing politics." Although Gao did not want to go into the details of his discussions.

In the days of COVID-19, of sanitary lock, of millions of people in quarantine, there is talk of politics in Chinese houses. Something strange in a country where that luxury is not usually allowed. Self-censorship endures doors inside. Outside, it is done in unison according to the canons of the Communist Party. Although it is pure facade. It is frowned upon to protest. Aloud few dare. And, if they do it hidden in the anonymity of social networks, censorship systems are activated and delete any comments they consider too critical.

We lived in China a few weeks ago, after the death of Li Wenliang, Wuhan's doctor who was silenced after alerting the outbreak of the new coronavirus at the end of December. Dr. Wenliang became infected. And his death left an unprecedented rage in the Chinese giant, vomited with impetus on Weibo, the Chinese Twitter.

The hashtag "I want freedom of expression" accumulated thousands of comments. Others like "Dr. Li Wenliang has passed away," added more than 670 million visits and critical messages against the government for the late reaction to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

The great censorship firewall was broken. Or, something that agrees more with the behavior of Beijing, was allowed to break, that the people, locked in their homes and with a lot of time to think, could vent somehow . It had never happened. Although it did not last long. In a few hours, the communist vice-machinery was launched and eliminated all the messages. Back to normal. Or, at least, in part.

Because, after censorship, a group of Chinese academics published a letter urging the government to protect freedom of expression and apologize for the death of Dr. Li Wenliang. "If more people remain silent for fear, death will come faster. Everyone should say no to the regime that takes strong measures against freedom of expression," said Zhang Qianfan, a law professor at Peking University. "If the doctor's words had not been treated as rumors, if every citizen were allowed to practice their right to express the truth, we would not be in this coronavirus mess, a national catastrophe with an international impact," added Tang Yiming, director from the Chinese Classics School of the Central University in Wuhan.

As the coronavirus continued to add more affected, more quarantines, and spread with more violence outside the Chinese borders, Dr. Wenliang's case dissipated. New heroes appeared, new doctors who died after becoming infected when treating patients. Like Xia Sisi, a 29-year-old doctor. Or Peng Yinhua, another doctor who had delayed his wedding to continue working at the Jiangxia People's Hospital.

More than 3,000 toilets have been infected while fighting in the front line against the coronavirus. Many of them had denounced the lack of means they worked with, the few masks, surgical suits and glasses they had. And some, as happened with Dr. Wenliang, were silenced by the government.

As they also silenced two activists, Chen Qiushi and Fang Bin, who walked the streets and hospitals of Wuhan documenting what was happening there. The videos that uploaded to YouTube about the collapse of hospitals had thousands of views. Something that the authorities did not like. Nothing has been heard from these "citizen journalists." Nor is there any trace on the network of some critical Chinese media articles about the management of the epidemic.

It should not be forgotten that in China, last summer, the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party advised Chinese journalists that it must pass a "loyalty test" to renew their accreditations and be able to practice their profession. Because all the feathers of this country must "defend the honor of China." Patriotism first of all. If there is something wrong, look the other way. If they tell it, they will be left without a pen.

And not only to national journalists. These days, in the context of the coronavirus, we have had the example of how authorities have expelled three journalists from the Wall Street Journal from China for the headline of an article in their newspaper that even they did not sign. "China is the real patient of Asia," said the headline, Walter Walter Mead, a professor at Bard College in the United States. From Beijing they branded the article "racist" and, in addition, they said that "it dirtied the efforts of the Government and the Chinese people in the fight against the epidemic."

But, although Joshua Chin, Philip Wen and Chao Deng, the correspondents of the Wall Street Journal, were not the authors, they were also expelled. The three further swell a list of free pens that have been thrown out of China for writing things that the communist regime did not like. This is now the new censorship in times of the coronavirus.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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