A year ago, while many countries were still reeling from Covid-19, China appeared to be one of the few places thriving from the pandemic. It was also the only major economy to show growth in 2020. Global investors were bullish on Chinese equities, even as Beijing’s crackdown on the private sector began to look more like a political campaign.
That led some people in China to argue that the authoritarian one-party rule offered a compelling alternative to traditional liberal democracy. The United States was in decline politically and economically, they said, and the world “tended towards China.” Many Chinese cheered the story online.
A year later, the tone in China is more one of fear, anger and despair. In the past month, hundreds of millions of people there have struggled with lockdowns as coronavirus outbreaks spread across the country. Foreign investors are dumping Chinese equities amid geopolitical, regulatory and pandemic uncertainties. And the government’s support of Russia’s President Vladimir V. Putin as he wages war in Ukraine has jeopardized world criticism and possibly sanctions.
It all leads to increasingly anxious questions about the country’s path — and even whether too much power is concentrated in the hands of the country’s leader, Xi Jinping, who is seeking a third five-year term in Congress. of the Communist Party late in the year.
On social media, a growing number of citizens are accusing the Communist Party of violating its social contract with the people. They had tolerated and sometimes praised a one-party government in return for economic growth and social stability. But strict lockdowns, which are putting pressure on entire cities, and regulatory crackdowns are costing many of them jobs and income, and leaving their futures looking much more uncertain and bleak than they did a few years ago.
