Public Opinion: Shanghai Entrepreneurs’ Open Letter: Lying Flat and Not Producing Anything

Lately, multiple media have reported that Shanghai entrepreneurs published an open letter in response to the government’s order to resume production. They announced that they will “lie flat.” They will resume work but will not produce anything. They were frustrated with the government’s lockdown of the city for two months. People’s living condition have deteriorated significantly, the government’s credibility has been swept away, the manufacturing orders have been reduced, foreign capital has been leaving China, and exporting goods has become much more difficult.

However, there were questions on the authenticity of this letter since big entrepreneurs have their own channels to share their opinions with high-ranking officials and will not challenge the authorities so openly.

In any case, the letter, regardless of whether it was true, expressed the public opinion that people are dissatisfied with the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) policies. The following is an excerpt from the open letter.

Compatriots from Shanghai and across China:

During the two-month-long city lockdown, we were repeatedly threatened by the subdistrict administrative offices (街道办事处), residential Committees (居民委员会), police stations, and unidentified people, for quarantine and door-to-door sterilization, which made us completely sober and even woke us up. We, several business owners and investors living in adjacent areas of Shanghai had to suspend our work, study the situation and reach some initial consensus — to lie flat and clear, resume our work but not do any production!

In response to the impending economic crisis, we would like to announce to society that we have made the following collective decisions:

To abolish redundant departments and streamline operations.
To sell off non-performing assets and prepare for a cold winter of our economy.
To not plan or be unable to hire college graduates in the next few years.
To encourage existing employees to voluntarily reduce their salaries and work together to overcome the difficulties of the times.
To expand overseas markets for rebuilding the domestic economy in the future.

We hope that the CCP’s 20th National Congress will bring us the following:

It is urgent to reform the political system and release the political shackles on economic development.
To punish severely all levels of government and grass-roots officials who violated the law and disregarded public opinion during the COVID prevention and control period, so as to restore the government’s image and rebuild the government’s credit.
To redress wronged cases such as the case against Ren Zhiqiang and Sun Dawu and recover the losses of the wronged entrepreneurs.
To release and redress prisoners of conscience, ideological prisoners, and political prisoners who are the backbone and treasure of the nation.
To release and redress those citizens who were politically and judicially persecuted for speaking out for the people or defending their rights and interests during the pandemic; to clean up the law enforcement team and restore the hearts of the people.
To establish the sanctity of private property and, especially to establish the private residences as freehold (the last refuge of the family).
To return the power to the people, reformulating the Constitution, removing the ban on parties and newspapers, eliminating the privileged class, and abolishing feudal systems such as household registration, political trials, and all other unreasonable systems that violate human morality and conscience.

We are eagerly waiting for entrepreneurs and investors from all over the country, scholars from colleges and universities across the country, elites from all walks of life and industrial and commercial people to express your opinions and support our initiatives and propositions.

Some entrepreneurs and investors in Shanghai

May 30, 2022

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