Situation in Wuhan?
#31
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: UA MileagePlus (Premier Gold); Hilton HHonors (Gold); Chase Ultimate Rewards; Amex Plat
Posts: 6,601
Not sure how this example would apply to the average person, and I include myself in that. Yes, the very few activist bloggers would be able to get their information out, maybe, but not the average Jo. It's genuinely possible that the average Wuhan resident hasn't tried to access anything except WeChat and gov approved sites the last 3 weeks...so maybe we can't really tell, but most major international news channels have been trying to keep in touch with 'local reporters' to some extent, would be surprised if none of those people had noticed anything.
tb
tb
#32
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 10,165
I seriously cant imagine how awful it is to be living in Wuhan now and it seems the quarantine measures are taking hold in other provinces as the government goes all out on the peoples war. Anyone who can would be well advised to leave the mainland now if they havent already.
#33
Join Date: Feb 2006
Programs: UA, Starwood, Priority Club, Hertz, Starbucks Gold Card
Posts: 3,950
I seriously cant imagine how awful it is to be living in Wuhan now and it seems the quarantine measures are taking hold in other provinces as the government goes all out on the peoples war. Anyone who can would be well advised to leave the mainland now if they havent already.
#34
Join Date: Jan 2005
Programs: SQ, QF, UA, CO, DL
Posts: 2,850
FWIW, Taiwanese media are having a field day sensationalizing the degree of control that China has undertaken. Last week, they broadcasted nonstop footages of Shanghai PSB ramming into homes and smashing mahjong tables because of a (national? provincial?) edict banning non-family members from congregating, even in private homes. And now they are talking about a new law immediately affecting Guangzhou and Shenzhen that, for the first time since the Cultural Revolution, allows the local government to confiscate private property if it deems necessary for fighting the virus.[/QUOTE]
The videos I have been seeing are mostly small mahjong clubs that continue to operate despite the ban. The kind that operate in a converted residential apartment. A lot are circulating on wechat and have not been scrubbed, so this seems to be information they want to let out.
Any idea what the purpose of confiscating private property is about? That worries me a bit, one of our facilities is in a smaller city where the local govt officials are going around turning off power to keep certain businesses from operating. There is a definite level of over-reaction there.
The videos I have been seeing are mostly small mahjong clubs that continue to operate despite the ban. The kind that operate in a converted residential apartment. A lot are circulating on wechat and have not been scrubbed, so this seems to be information they want to let out.
Any idea what the purpose of confiscating private property is about? That worries me a bit, one of our facilities is in a smaller city where the local govt officials are going around turning off power to keep certain businesses from operating. There is a definite level of over-reaction there.
#36
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,327
Hilton has announced that 150 of their hotels in China have been closed.
#37
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: China and Canada
Posts: 1,886
"...the very few activist bloggers would be able to get their information out, maybe, but not the average Jo. It's genuinely possible that the average Wuhan resident hasn't tried to access anything except WeChat and gov approved sites the last 3 weeks..." - most Chinese don't care about accessing Facebook or other banned sites. They are quite happy with their "intranet". Those who care have figured out their way around the Wall.
"...I seriously can’t imagine how awful it is to be living in Wuhan now..." - I have a friend who lives in the center of Wuhan. She is in good spirit, goes to work every day (office job for the government making payments to handicapped) and no food shortage. Getting "dressed up" for work is a bit of a pain but she is not complaining.
"...I seriously can’t imagine how awful it is to be living in Wuhan now..." - I have a friend who lives in the center of Wuhan. She is in good spirit, goes to work every day (office job for the government making payments to handicapped) and no food shortage. Getting "dressed up" for work is a bit of a pain but she is not complaining.
#38
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 23
"...the very few activist bloggers would be able to get their information out, maybe, but not the average Jo. It's genuinely possible that the average Wuhan resident hasn't tried to access anything except WeChat and gov approved sites the last 3 weeks..." - most Chinese don't care about accessing Facebook or other banned sites. They are quite happy with their "intranet". Those who care have figured out their way around the Wall.
"...I seriously cant imagine how awful it is to be living in Wuhan now..." - I have a friend who lives in the center of Wuhan. She is in good spirit, goes to work every day (office job for the government making payments to handicapped) and no food shortage. Getting "dressed up" for work is a bit of a pain but she is not complaining.
"...I seriously cant imagine how awful it is to be living in Wuhan now..." - I have a friend who lives in the center of Wuhan. She is in good spirit, goes to work every day (office job for the government making payments to handicapped) and no food shortage. Getting "dressed up" for work is a bit of a pain but she is not complaining.
For reference, I lived in Wuhan for 4 years and only left about half a year ago.
#39
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: China and Canada
Posts: 1,886
#40
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 23
Then your friend is basically feeding you party propaganda. I am seeing the local community groups. Those local Wuhan ladies are getting furious.
#41
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 41,820
While I'm not a fan of many of the new policies, I must admit that keeping people from getting near each other and reminding them not to touch inert surfaces seems to be fairly effective.
Last edited by moondog; Feb 23, 2020 at 4:02 am
#42
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: UA MileagePlus (Premier Gold); Hilton HHonors (Gold); Chase Ultimate Rewards; Amex Plat
Posts: 6,601
I don't doubt that at all, but I would be hard-pressed to believe that a significant number of people know how to "flip the Wall." Just for the sake of argument, suppose 10,000 people in a city of 10M are tech-savvy enough to detect loopholes in the system. That would be 0.1% leakage -- as watertight as it gets. And I can't fathom more people than that to be able to do this.
In any case, what are people going to do if they are cooped up in their apartments for weeks? If you told me that someone created a clone of myself and he was going to try for one month to break into my computer remotely and delete all my files if he gets in, I'd take proper precautions and would be only slightly concerned. If you further added that this person would be cooped up in an apartment nearly 24/7 and would only be able to eat, sleep, and try to break into my computer, I'd be very worried.
I can't comment on Wuhan because I rarely go there, but I will note that I've been a little surprised by how steadfastly my Chinese friends have towed the party line wrt the quarantine measures. I'm talking about people my age and younger, not just the older generations. By in large, they are not furious. Rather, they regard temporary suffering as a necessary and worth while. That having been said, none of my friends have had problems getting food or other basic supplies yet.
While I'm not a fan of many of the new policies, I must admit that keeping people from getting near each other and reminding them not to touch inert surfaces seems to be fairly effective.
While I'm not a fan of many of the new policies, I must admit that keeping people from getting near each other and reminding them not to touch inert surfaces seems to be fairly effective.
Last edited by STS-134; Feb 23, 2020 at 3:47 am
#43
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: China and Canada
Posts: 1,886
Blaming the government for everything bad that happens to you pretty much happens under all political regimes.
#44
Join Date: Feb 2006
Programs: UA, Starwood, Priority Club, Hertz, Starbucks Gold Card
Posts: 3,950
In any case, what are people going to do if they are cooped up in their apartments for weeks? If you told me that someone created a clone of myself and he was going to try for one month to break into my computer remotely and delete all my files if he gets in, I'd take proper precautions and would be only slightly concerned. If you further added that this person would be cooped up in an apartment nearly 24/7 and would only be able to eat, sleep, and try to break into my computer, I'd be very worried.
Last edited by sinoflyer; Feb 23, 2020 at 1:42 pm
#45
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: UA MileagePlus (Premier Gold); Hilton HHonors (Gold); Chase Ultimate Rewards; Amex Plat
Posts: 6,601
You are applying Western cultural norms based on personal freedom and individual-thinking to Chinese culture that regards people not as individuals but as elements of a larger humanity. Much of Chinese culture originated from the Yellow River Basin, which flooded regularly and invariably swept some people away each time. For example, the notion of celebrating the Lunar New Year (guo-nian) isn't really about welcoming the spring and planting seeds but refers to a classical fable of having survived (guo) a human-eating monster (Nian). In more recent history, the Chinese torched the entire city of Changsha in 1938, killing tens of thousands, to leave nothing for the Japanese to take. And during the HIV outbreak in several villages in Henan in the early 2000s, the villages were isolated to contain the HIV spread until the problem literally died away. Now with the coronavirus, people in the affected areas are accepting their fate as a part of the bigger whole. The current government's "patriotic education" and its history of intimidating the people have definite effects on the people's reactions, but it's the underlying culture that allows the Chinese to quarantine themselves in a way that other cultures like ours in the U.S. will absolutely not tolerate.