Social Stability – Page 9

Chinese Are Protesting for Unpaid Wages

Thousands of workers at Zybio, a pharmaceutical company in Chongqing City, held a protest inside the factory and even clashed with the special police force which came to suppress them.

Zybio designs and manufactures medical diagnostic reagents and instruments. According to an interview with a Zybio employee, the company hired around seven thousand temporary workers in early December, promising to pay them 1,000 yuan (US$146) as a bonus on top of their hourly pay if they would work until January 21 and another 2,000 yuan bonus if they worked until February 15.

On January 6, the company announced it would lay off 8,000 people. Most of them were those temporary workers. The company said they lost orders. It used to produce COVID nucleic acid extraction testing kits, which were in high demand when Beijing carried out the “zero-COVID” policy. It switched to producing antigen testing kits after the government stopped that policy. However, workers suspected that Zybio had enough orders but used a lack of orders as an excuse to avoid paying a bonus to the workers.

A smaller group of people started protesting on the evening of January 6. Since the company executives hid themselves and only let the factory manager arrange the layoff, people got furious and started smashing things. Several thousand workers gathered at the company on the next day. A few more company executives were found and beaten.

Special police came to the factory. Some videos posted online showed the clashes between the workers and the police, including a video showing that a small group of policemen retreated while the workers were chasing and throwing things at them.

The protesters shouted one appeal: “We just want our salaries.”

Zybio proposed a resolution: It would pay every worker their December salary on January 7 and their January salary on January 8. In addition, it would pay 1,000 yuan to those who left as their severance pay, or to those who stayed as a bonus.

Since people got the money they demanded, they accepted the proposal. The protesters all left the company immediately.

Demanding unpaid wages has been a big issue when the Chinese New Year has approached. The government has demonstrated the habit of delaying payments to its contractors and companies. It has also had the habit of delaying payment to, or not paying in the end, its subcontractors or workers. Since migrant workers usually go home for Chinese New Year, they started a protest to demand their money before the Near Year.

This year has been even harder as some companies have struggled to survive due to the bad economy in China.

A netizen posted 40 videos about people at different places, including Beijing, Guangdong, Shandong, Hebei, and other locations, demanding the payment of their wages on either January 4 or January 5.

The authorities somehow belittled the workers who tried to defend their own rights, as their actions interrupted society’s stability. Sometimes the government uses force to drive the workers away. Some officials came up with a term “malicious wage collection” to defame those workers who were actually victims.

Recently an online posting showed a banner hanging at a company, saying, “Fiercely crack down on malicious wage collection actions; defend the company’s illegal action of not paying wages.”

It is yet to be seen how the salary demand protest will continue its development in China.

Sources:
1. Epoch Times, January 7, 2023
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/23/1/7/n13901673.htm
2. Radio Free Asia, January 5, 2023
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/renquanfazhi/kw-01052023132119.html

Briefings | | January 11, 2023 | @CS Social Stability

CNA: First Day of Spring Festival Travel Recorded 30 Million Travelers

Primary Taiwanese news agency Central News Agency (CNA) recently reported that China’s Covid prevention policies have been downgraded. Many people are having their first return home reunion in three years. On the 7th, the first day of the Spring Festival travel rush, a total of 34.736 million passengers were transported by railways, roads and airways in China. This represents an increase of 38.9 percent over the same period in 2022. China’s Spring Festival travel is known to be the largest population movement on the surface of the Earth. The 2023 Spring Festival travel period is from January 7th to February 15th, a total of 40 days. Xu Chengguang, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transportation, said that the total passenger flow during the Spring Festival travel period this year is estimated to be about 2.095 billion, an increase of 99.5 percent over the same period last year, and returned to 70.3 percent of the same period in 2019. Among them, visiting relatives accounted for about 55 percent of the passenger flow, work accounted for about 24 percent, plus tourism and business travel accounted for about 10 percent respectively. However, this year’s Spring Festival travel peak is superimposed with the Covid peak, which made this Spring Festival travel the most uncertain and the most complicated one. The situation introduces the greatest difficulties and challenges in recent years. At this moment, it is hard to find train tickets, and many popular routes have been sold out. In addition, there is also an increase in demand for flights. According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China, during the Spring Festival travel season, an average of 11,000 passenger flights will be arranged daily.

Source: CNA, January 8, 2023
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202301080129.aspx

Briefings | | January 11, 2023 | Social Stability

A “Firecracker Revolution” Took Place in China

After the blank-sheet paper protest, also called the “A4 Revolution” where A4 refers to the paper size, Chinese people started a new protest on the rights to set off firecrackers – some people called it the “Firecracker Revolution.”

Setting off firecrackers is a Chinese tradition to celebrate the new year. It had been a must-have activity for many years. However, in the past decade, the authorities banned it in the cities due to the risk of causing fires.

On Near Year’s eve, people in Xuchang City, Henan Province gathered at a central square. Some set off firecrackers. Police tried to arrest the “offenders,” but were blocked by other people. More and more people set off firecrackers at different spots on the square. In the end, the police gave up and let people enjoy their celebration.

A similar firecracker “offense” took place in Luyi County, Zhoukou City of the same province in central China on the next night. Police came and started arresting people. According to an online video, a large group of people surrounded the police car, demanding the release of those who had been arrested. People and police officers pushed each other. Some young people smashed the police car, breaking its front windshield. Eventually people flipped the police car upside down. Special police came and arrested six people.

The “Firecracker Revolution” also happened in several cities and provinces including Henan, Shandong, Hebei, Jiangsu, Guangxi, and Chongqing.

Some cities loosened their restrictions on firecrackers. Dalian City, Liaoning Province announced certain districts that could set off firecrackers on Chinese Near Year’s Eve (January 21 this year). Dongying city and Binzhou City in Shandong Province also announced firecrackers were allowed in certain regions and at certain times.

Some commentators felt that from the A4 revolution to the firecracker revolution, the Chinese people showed that they are no longer so afraid of the authorities. They have started to demand their rights.

Sources:
1. Epoch Times, January 4, 2023
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/23/1/4/n13899249.htm
2. New Talk, January 5, 2023
https://newtalk.tw/news/view/2023-01-05/851861

Briefings | | January 6, 2023 | @CS Government/Politics Social Stability

Mainland Chinese Media: Patients Are Pouring in Like the Tide! Half of the ICU Patients Have Severe Pneumonia

Below are excerpts from a mainland Chinese report on the current situation of covid patients at Minhang Hospital which is affiliated with Fudan University in Shanghai.

“Emergency Department Director Sun Keyu said, ‘We usually have more than 1,000 emergency visits, more than 20 when there are many who stay. The emergency medical department has a maximum of more than 300 people a day. The recent peak of emergency visits reached more than 2,000 people, nearly 1,000 emergency medical visits, and more than 100 stays. Those who stay in the ward come at night, and they will be hospitalized the next day.’”

“Now that the (covid) emergency is peaking, the (covid)-positive medical staff has continued to work including those who have the illness. Those with a high fever may only rest for a day or two, and those with no fever or a low fever have basically persisted.” One day after 9 o’clock in the evening, a nurse found Sun Keyu and burst into tears, ‘I really can’t hold up anymore.’ The pressure was too great; the patients have poured in like the tide. There is no time to do anything; the medical staff members themselves have a fever. I have never encountered such a situation before, .. . ”

“The cell phone of Gao Yuan, director of the critical care medicine department, keeps ringing. In the ICU, patients with severe pneumonia have accounted for half of all patients. Another quarter are patients with underlying diseases that worsened after the infection.”

“‘Things are still at the peak plateau phase and now is the most difficult time. As Director Zhang Wenhong said yesterday, it is expected to last for another two weeks.’ Sun Keyu said that the wards are full now, and only when someone is discharged from the hospital is a bed vacated. The biggest difficulty is that patients need to be hospitalized, but ‘an available bed is hard to find.’ In the future, it is expected that the number of patients coming in by ambulance will decrease, but the patients may be in a more serious condition.”

Sources: Netease, January 5, 2023 https://www.163.com/news/article/HQA9DSOJ00019B3E.html https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/tKQ7nP8oqrnxe00bOr6xsg

Briefings | | January 6, 2023 | Economy/Resources Social Stability

China Times: the ICUs in Many Hospitals Are Close to Saturation; Staff Reduction Rate Is up to 70 Percent in Some Hospitals

Regarding the current situation of Covid treatment in China, a reporter interviewed Professor Qiu Yunqing, executive vice president of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine and deputy director of the State’s Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control.

Qiu Yunqing told reporters, “Now that the number of infected people in a number of places has reached a relatively high level. it can be inferred that the peak of severe cases in many places may arrive in 2 to 3 weeks. At this stage, hospitals at all levels urgently need to make preparations for treating severe patients.” The peak of severe cases will generally appear 2 to 3 weeks after the peak of infection.

Qiu Yunqing added, “At present, the intensive care units of hospitals in many places have reached a relatively saturated state. The treatment time for critically ill patients is generally relatively long and it takes a long time for patients to recover once they are admitted to the hospital or intensive care unit. Therefore, the existing medical resources may very likely be in short supply and it will be a huge challenge for the medical resources and medical personnel in hospitals to treat critically ill patients.”

The challenge to the hospitals has just begun. The Intensive care department, the respiratory department, and the emergency department are the three most over-loaded departments in most hospitals. The heads of the relevant departments of many top hospitals across the country told China News Weekly that, basically, all of the medical staff in these departments were infected. Although they have returned to work one after another recently, most of them came to work with illnesses and there is still a shortage of medical staff.

“The biggest problem facing these hospitals now is the shortage of medical staff. Since last week, a large number of the medical staff in the hospitals have been infected one after another. The staff reduction rate has now reached 70 percent.” On December 20, Zhao Linzhi, a critical care physician at a hospital in Wuhan, told China News Weekly that some doctors and nurses with mild symptoms were exhausted because of staying up late and working overtime. In addition, some students who had been studying and training in the hospital left the hospital one after another, which stretched the insufficient medical resources even further. What makes Zhao Linzhi most anxious every day is not knowing who will show up to work in the hospital the next day.

With the gradual increase of critically ill patients, over occupancy of hospital beds has occurred in many hospitals.

Source: China Times, December 29, 2022 https://m.chinatimes.net.cn/article/123765.htmlI

Briefings | | December 30, 2022 | Social Stability

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