Thomas F. O'Neill: The Chinese government is now relaxing its draconian mandates ......... 🦅

The Chinese government is now relaxing its draconian mandates regarding COVID. It is primarily due to the negative international coverage of China’s strict lockdowns and continuous COVID testing.

Country-wide protests against the lockdowns, harsh government rules on travel, and COVID testing; have played a significant part in Xi Jinping easing his “Zero Tolerance” policy against the virus.

The protesters were made up mostly of members of the Z-generation and organized mainly by University students. That resulted in many Universities throughout China being shut down - for a time - but they have now reopened.

The Z-generation grew up on social media, and they used it effectively to lampoon Xi Jinping and his authoritative grip on the communist party. The government tried its best to scrub the internet of all satirical comments. That, however, resulted in the protesters using VPNs to communicate on Instagram and other social media networks to continue organizing and voicing their opinions against Xi Jinping and the communist government.

“The communist party,” as one University student shouted, “is made up of ninety-one million members out of a population of 1.4 billion people….” The local authorities grabbed her at that point and confiscated her phone, which was never returned to her.

Protests are common in America, but in China, it is a big deal, and I say more power to the peaceful demonstrators fighting for democracy in China. Most generation Z here admire America, especially our freedom to voice our opinions satirically against political leaders and our ability to demonstrate against perceived injustices.

I am happy to report that my students whose families live within the city limit of the school are allowed to go home today for a long-needed weekend. But unfortunately, the students whose families live outside the city must remain at the school, I included, but as you can see, some progress was made, which is a good thing for our peace of mind.