To circumvent China's heavily censored internet, residents of Guangzhou have been venting out their frustration in a new way after their city- a global manufacturing powerhouse and home to almost 19 million people- became the epicenter of Covid outbreak. Following the spike in cases, the city was closed down as lockdowns and other measures to restrict the spread of the infections returned.
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“We had to lock down in April, and then again in November,” a resident posted on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter while another said, “The government hasn’t provided subsidies – do you think my rent doesn’t cost money?”
There were also other posts loosely translated to “go to hell,” while some accused authorities of “spouting nonsense”, CNN reported.
The posts show growing public frustration at China’s strict zero-Covid policy which includes snap lockdowns, mass testing, extensive contact-tracing and quarantines to curb the spread of the infections.
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Even though most of the criticism of government policies is swiftly removed as social media remains heavily censored in China, these posts remained untouched for days as they were written in language few censors will fully understand.
{{/usCountry}}Even though most of the criticism of government policies is swiftly removed as social media remains heavily censored in China, these posts remained untouched for days as they were written in language few censors will fully understand.
{{/usCountry}}The posts are in Cantonese, which originated in Guangzhou’s surrounding province of Guangdong and is spoken by tens of millions of people across Southern China, CNN reported. The language offered possibilities for the Chinese residents to express discontent toward their government without attracting the notice of the censors.
Earlier this year, US-based independent media monitoring organization China Digital Times noted numerous dissatisfied Cantonese posts slipping past censors as well.