When Cong Yi was taken to a camp for people infected with the corona virus with her three-year-old daughter, her husband and her parents, a neighbor stood at the window and filmed them.

He then uploaded the video to the house chat.

"Almost everyone applauded," writes the young mother on the Weibo network.

The neighbors were happy that those who tested positive were removed from their midst.

They had previously tried by all means to drive the family out of the house.

After 14 days in the camp and two negative tests, Cong Yi was allowed to return to her home.

To this day, her neighbors scold her if she even opens the door to bring in a delivery of food.

In every society there are jealous neighbors.

But Cong Yi sees more in it.

an abyss.

Friederike Böge

Political correspondent for China, North Korea and Mongolia.

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From their point of view, there is a date when this hole in the ground opened.

It was April 6th;

the day the central government took over in Shanghai.

Until then, writes Cong Yi, a “Shanghai” attitude had prevailed among those responsible: pragmatic, rational, solution-oriented.

After that, however, the atmosphere in society changed.

Other opinions and emotions came to the fore.

"When the trolls attacked, my value system collapsed." She speaks of a stigma, as if someone put a hat on her because of her infection.

As happened to those who were outlawed by the regime during the Cultural Revolution.

Powerful propaganda

The disappearance of reason and basic trust that Cong Yi describes has long been a reality for many people in China.

It is the result of a gradual process since Xi Jinping came to power.

It goes hand in hand with the centralization of power, which has deprived local authorities of the freedom to make their own decisions.

It goes hand in hand with the co-ordination of the media and the Internet, which make critical discourse and the establishment of a moral consensus impossible and make propaganda even more effective.

It goes hand in hand with the ideologization of science and the weakening of the expertise that once gave the party a reputation for pragmatism.

A leader cult has taken its place that demands absolute allegiance.

On Thursday evening, at a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Politburo, i.e. the seven most powerful men in China, this could be observed once again.

There, Xi Jinping said, according to state television: "Practice has shown that our disease control policy is shaped by the character and mission of our party.

It has stood the test of history and proven to be scientific and efficient.

We won the battle for Wuhan and we will definitely win the battle for Shanghai.” The Politburo’s decision to continue the zero-Covid strategy states that relaxation will “inevitably lead to high numbers of infections, seriously morbidity and death".

This assumption is entirely justified.

Many old people in China are still not vaccinated.

The Chinese leadership continues to refuse to import more effective vaccines from abroad.

The party intends to take even more decisive action against objections of this kind in the future: We will vehemently combat all words and actions that "twist, doubt or reject our disease protection policy," according to the Politburo's decision.

And: “Perseverance is victory.” This phrase dates back to the Mao era and was used particularly frequently during the Cultural Revolution.

A few hours later, the Shanghai Party Committee hurriedly announced that a meeting had been held to spread the "spirit" of the Politburo's remarks.

"The whole city will clench its teeth to win the battle to defend Shanghai."

In the wealthy districts of Shanghai, far from the capital, such speeches could long be dismissed as rhetoric.

The privileged thought Shanghai was different.

More modern, more civilized.

Before the big lockdown, pictures of people ironically dressing up for the first mass tests circulated.

One lined up with a half-empty wine glass.

The horror of supply bottlenecks and the conditions in the quarantine camps was all the greater later.

There are many cities in China where the population is currently experiencing similar suffering.

But you hardly hear anything from them.

“Mei banfa” is the attitude there.

"There is no way out."