Yeah nothing much happening — Editor’s Note for Friday, April 15, 2022
A note for The China Project newsletter readers from Jeremy Goldkorn. Today: the same level of suffering in Shanghai's lockdown, big companies warn of the consequences of COVID curbs, and minimum wage in China.
Dear reader,
Shanghai is still under strict lockdown, despite some media reports that the COVID-zero measures in place are loosening. But there is not really anything new happening: As one of my Shanghai correspondents put it to me: “Yeah, nothing much happening today. Just the same level of suffering.”
People are suffering individually, but the economy is also taking a huge hit thanks to the lockdowns. Reported this morning by foreign news media but noticeably censored from Chinese media sources were these two stories:
- Two senior executives from controversial telecom giant Huawei and electric car frontrunner Xpeng warned of severe consequences for the Chinese economy if the Shanghai COVID lockdowns continue.
- XPeng and Tesla have both warned that they will stop shipping new cars because of the pandemic restrictions.
Minimum wage news: China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security has released data on the minimum wage standards in China. Beijing has the highest hourly minimum wage with 25.3 yuan or $4 an hour. By comparison:
- U.S.A.: $7.25
- UK: $12.41
- Norway: $22.26
- South Africa, $1.58
- Bangladesh: $92 per month
Our phrase of the week is: It’s like another world (恍如隔世 huǎng rú gé shì), which is how one U.S.-based lawyer described the feeling of spending three months in quarantine on a failed trip to visit family in China.
