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China has heavily overcrowded cities, which allows for the rapid and inevitable outbreaks of covid. Because of this, the government has set some very strict policies in place to try and prevent this. They have created the zero covid policy which has 2 parts to it; prevention and containment. Their goal is to keep the covid cases as close to zero as they can, hence the name Zero Covid Policy. For the prevention aspect of it, people are required to provide a negative covid test in order to enter certain facilities or businesses. Anyone with a suspected case is placed under a government-supervised quarantine, or isolated in their own home. For the containment part of it, China's borders have stayed closed to the majority of people. Anyone who does cross the border must quarantine in a facility for 7 days, and then at home for an additional 3.

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This policy has effects on many people's daily lives. Each person's PCR results are put into a government database, as well as other things, like their travel history, which is tracked by mobile phone signals. People need to keep a 'normal' profile with negative results and minimal exposure to others who may be sick. This can have a major effect on people because they are always worried about if they are staying under the radar, or if they will be the next target of the government to track down. It can add a lot of fear to these people's lives.
This policy also has had a huge effect on the economy, including global supply chains. Because most of the borders are shut down, it's difficult for goods and people to cross and send this one way or another. Because of this, it is very hard for China's economy to keep up and continue to grow.
Along with this, lock downs have led to a shortage of food and other necessities in some countries because they don't have access to all those resources.

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At first, many citizens took pride in their country and the ability to keep cases to a minimum. However, as the virus continued and kept spreading, cases increased across the country and lock downs and regulations became harsher. Because of this, citizens got mad at all the restrictions they faced and started to protest these policies in order to win back some freedom. People were angry because of the system of surveillance used to track and limit people's movements. They were also angry because of the effect this policy has had on the economy, which caused many small businesses and shops to shut down. These protests directly criticized the central government in China, which was different from previous protests. Protesters held up a blank piece of paper when protesting to symbolize the heavy surveillance and censorship in China and to protest against it. These blank pieces of paper are now known as a symbol of freedom of speech and press in China.

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In response to the protests, the government lifted some of the restrictions and allowed people to move and live more freely than before. They decided if the virus would not be completely contained, they were going to have to open up the country eventually.
However, these protests were most likely not the only factor that lifted some of the restrictions within the zero covid policy. The economic struggles also played a role in the government's decision to start lifting regulations. However, these protests were mostly likely what made the government start moving faster to make these changes.

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Recently, China has relaxed the zero covid policy and lessened some of the restrictions. These changes are significantly different from the harsh policies of the last three years. There are not as many testing requirements or travel restrictions anymore. People are also allowed to quarantine in their own home when experiencing symptoms, instead of at a government facility. These relaxed policies also should benefit China's economy and hopefully support some economic growth in the near future.
However, certain people and government officials want these new policies to happen in stages, so that the country isn't overwhelmed with a rush of change, and a possible outbreak again. There are definitely going to be some challenges in trying to maintain the spread of the virus and isolate those who are contaminated. Especially apartment buildings, where many people live, it will be harder to maintain the virus while having people quarantined at home. However, the true effects of the re-opening will not be known until they occur. Nevertheless, the government and citizens hope to gradually lift these restrictions and continually open the country back up.

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1. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/what-is-chinas-zero-covid-policy-how-does-it-work-2022-11-03/
2. https://www.voanews.com/a/what-is-china-s-zero-covid-policy-/6854291.html
3. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/07/world/asia/china-zero-covid-protests.html
4. https://www.cfr.org/blog/did-chinas-street-protests-end-harsh-covid-policies
5. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-04382-0

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1. What is the goal of the Zero Covid Policy?
2. How is the government able to track/restrict the movement and travel of people?
3. Why did citizens use a blank piece of paper when protesting the zero covid policies?
4. Besides the protest by citizens, what was another reason the government decided to start lifting some covid policies?
5. Why might allowing people to quarantine at home be an issue?

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1. to keep the number of covid cases as close to zero as possible
2. by using mobile phone signals
3. it represented the heavy surveillance and censorship in China, which they used the paper to protest this.
4. the economic struggles and the damage to China's global supply chain
5. because in places like apartment buildings, where many people live together, if someone is quarantining the virus could easily spread to their neighbors because they all live in the same building.