According to the fairy tale, once the ignorant rabble began to admit the Emperor was wearing no clothes, his future became dicy. But that's fairy tales for you.
The Chinese people are a long way from that point. Still, if the CCP can't revive the economy at some point the population is going to question if the CCP still enjoys the mandate of heaven.
Somehow the Zero-Covid thing reminds me of Chairman Mao's determination to anihilate the swallows who were eating too much of the grain harvest.
It was disastrous. Of course birds also eat pests...
That's actually a very good analogy. Mao's campaign against the sparrows became a major contributor to the famine of China's Great Leap Forward.
According to the fairy tale, once the ignorant rabble began to admit the Emperor was wearing no clothes, his future became dicy. But that's fairy tales for you.
It's the admission that is the sticking point.
The Chinese people are a long way from that point. Still, if the CCP can't revive the economy at some point the population is going to question if the CCP still enjoys the mandate of heaven.
All the unoccupied real estate there is opening more eyes, I'm guessing.
Not necessarily. Many families hold those empty homes as investment. 70% of the Chinese middle class wealth is tied up in those empty properties.
What happens when the value of those properties collapses is a different story.
Wealth destruction can be quite the enlightening experience.
It seems to me that what you just described is already wealth destruction. Clouds are forming over Xi's head right now.
"Commodity Prices Are Declining Due To Zero COVID"
Good!
That said, Zero Covid is like an endless game of whack-a-mole.