Xi’an 30,000 police force to control more than 10 million people Food distribution is insufficient for residents to barter

Food shortage in Xi’an city

On January 2, 92 new cases of CCP virus were confirmed in Shaanxi Province, 90 cases in Xi’an city. 29,000 police officers were deployed throughout Xi’an to participate in the city closure, and 13 million residents were restricted from going out for several days. Many people resorted to bartering to meet their immediate needs due to the lack of food. Some residents described the vegetable sellers as making national disaster money.

The city of Xi’an has been closed for more than 10 days since Dec. 23, and food shortages are getting worse for some families among the more than 10 million people who have been quarantined. Residents are complaining and asking for help via videos on the Internet. These include the lack of food, the lack of treatment for illnesses and the high price of vegetables and fruits. One resident showed his friends that the vegetables and fruits he struggled to buy, plus a few cartons of milk, cost 1,120 yuan. Another resident said in the video, “Look at what you can actually buy for more than 200 RMB, less than 40 RMB for 10 peppers, 40 RMB for 6 tomatoes, 40 RMB for 2 cabbages, 40 RMB for 3 lettuces, 40 RMB for a little onion, 40 RMB for 4 white radishes, the vegetable sellers are making national disaster money.”

Other residents living in the same building bartered and exchanged food with each other to meet their immediate needs. They exchanged cigarettes, Apple phones and other products for rice, which was in the shortest supply. A resident said in the video: “The community has been bartered, I have a bag of rice at home, neighbors said to come over to exchange, (go open the door) to see what can be exchanged with this bag of rice, come, come, neighbors come. (Neighbor said) Hello, a phone and a tablet, my family six bags of rice, no more vegetables. (Neighbor said) OK.”

Ms. Wang, a resident of Xi’an, said, “In Xi’an it’s all barter, they exchange with each other in the building itself. Because the food to eat is no longer available.”

In Xi’an’s urban villages, some people who have not yet been sent to quarantine outside the city line up to buy steamed buns. Local residents said that all food stores had closed down and only a few steamed bun stores were left open. One elderly man was stopped from going out to find food by police, who were crying, “(The police said) the rice, oil and salt you need will be sent to you, where did you send it, it was sent to you in the morning, the old man (cried): until now I have nothing to eat, woo woo woo.”

Residents accuse civil servants’ families of being given priority in food distribution

However, the official media reported that on the afternoon of December 29, a truckload of vegetables and fruits meat was pulled into the neighborhood of No. 23 Shangpu Road in the new city of Xi’an, which has about 180 households, and about 180 bags of vegetables and other supplies were brought in, containing about ten pounds of potatoes, lotus white, tomatoes, enoki mushrooms, spinach, small oranges, pancetta, etc… …The residents said they were thrilled that this was just the right thing to do, so the residents spontaneously lined up a 100-meter long relay to transmit vegetables. The netizens searched the internet and found that the “23rd courtyard residential area on Shangpu Road” is a dormitory for the family members of the Shaanxi Provincial People’s Congress and civil servants of the Xi’an Municipal Government. There was an outcry, criticizing government officials for enjoying privileges in the face of the epidemic.

Ms. Song, a resident of Xi’an, told the station that the vegetables assigned to the officials’ homes are very rich, compared to those of ordinary people.

“They (officials) have rich vegetables, where are the common people so rich, what kind of vegetables did we get? I got a cabbage loosely, a zucchini, 4 green peppers, 3 heads of garlic, a piece of ginger, 2 onions, 3 potatoes, 2 onions, just this little dish.”

Last Friday afternoon (31), the Shaanxi provincial government said at a press conference on the province’s new crown pneumonia epidemic prevention and control work, the province’s social prevention and control of a total of 41,000 police officers, Xi’an City, 29,000 police officers, including those involved in community control police officers 20,352 people, involved in the social side of the card patrol police officers 3,709 people, involved in isolation hotel security police officers 1,095 people, involved in road traffic control police officers 3296 people, involved in nucleic acid sampling point security police force 894 people.

Scholars: Officials first stressed the need to ensure social stability

Mr. Tian, a scholar from Shaanxi Province, told the station that over the years, every time a major incident occurs, the government does not pay much attention to the difficulties encountered by the people. Officials first emphasize the need to ensure social stability:.

“From 2004 to now, he (the government) has gradually constructed a system to maintain stability, for example, the city of Xi’an appears to have just over 40,000 police officers, but in fact, in addition to the police, there are community committees, people in charge of a building, village cadres in remote places, village group cadres, etc.”

Han Dapeng, who understands the epidemic prevention and control measures, told the station that, as it stands, the epidemic prevention and control measures across Shaanxi are not simply to prevent the epidemic:.

“A total lockdown would have been appropriate if it had targeted Wuhan last year, but the Omicron variant of the virus is now spreading more strongly, but the lethality rate is very low and the rate of serious illness is also very low. In the case of the Xi’an lockdown, it’s not really about preventing an outbreak, I feel it’s about controlling people.”

The previous day, China had 161 new confirmed cases of the CCP virus, 101 of which were local cases, Xinhua reported Monday (3). The number of cases in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, fell back to 90, the first time since the 8th that there were fewer than 100 cases.

On Dec. 23, the Xi’an government implemented a “city closure” to prevent the epidemic. The outbreak has been going on for more than 10 days, with triple-digit numbers of new cases per day. There is no sign of relief so far. According to the official announcement, since December 9, the cumulative number of confirmed cases in Xi’an has exceeded 1,500, with the Delta variant being the main one.