THE CHARGER ACCOUNT DESIGN BY IMRAN SHAIKH
Kyan Wang
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FEATURE: WORLD The toll of China’s Zero-COVID policy Staff Writer
China’s zero-COVID policy, which sought to aggressively eliminate COVID-19, has ended. The controversial program saw the government going to extreme measures to prevent the spread of the virus, such as enacting complete lockdowns of cities, sealing apartment doors shut and providing food delivery services in locked-down cities. Although the policy kept cases at relatively low levels—with only about 1,000 cases reported daily in the country throughout much of 2022 compared to the United States’ 10,000-plus daily cases—it came at the toll of public discontent as cooped up citizens became restless and tired of the seemingly incessant lockdowns. According to the South China Morning Post, despite initial support among the Chinese public for zero-COVID, economic and social frustrations caused many to iiiturn against the policy. Citizens, particularly in Shanghai, Beijing and Wuhan, took to the streets and gathered in city centers to protest zero-COVID in late 2022. A prominent catalyst for the protests was the death of 10 people in a Xinjiang province apartment complex fire, in which protestors blamed the excessively harsh quarantine measures enacted by the government that prevented people from escaping the building. One man, Peng Lifa, has been credited by The Telegraph
Lauren Wilson
as an instigator of the protests. He hung banners over a busy highway overpass dissenting to the government with slogans that were used as rallying cries by zero-COVID protestors, spurring their cause’s quick growth despite suppression by the Chinese government. However, the abrupt end of the policy in December 2022 led to mass infections, with Peking University estimating that 64% of the population, or 900 million people,
had been infected since zero-COVID was lifted. These numbers were heavily underreported by the Chinese government— PBS states that while under 10,000 cases were reported daily nationwide, Zhejiang province officials said that there were over one million new cases in the province alone. The massive influx of COVID-19 cases in China are possibly due to a lack of exposure to previous variants of COVID-19 as well as the lower efficacy of Chinese inactivated-virus vaccines against the Omicron variant—the primary strain in the country. “Stopping all measures abruptly was an ineffective way to handle the situation. The best method for
the Chinese government would have been to relax restrictions over an extended period of time, rather than all at once,” Freshman Dominic Wang said. Since the end of the zeroCOVID policy, the Chinese border has reopened to international travel and travelers are flocking en masse to foreign nations. Additionally, the Associated Press predicts that the reopening of the ChinaHong Kong border will increase tourism and retail in the semiautonomous state. However, The Wall Street Journal finds that many countries, such as the U.S. and Australia, have enacted COVID-19 testing requirements for Chinese travelers due to a perceived lack of government transparency in reported cases. “My Chinese cousin contracted COVID-19 a few weeks ago, right after the end of zero-COVID protocols. The high population density of the country’s cities was definitely a major factor in the
spread of COVID-19,” Sophomore Wei Wang said. According to CNN, COVID-19 testing booths, health code scanning signs and lockdown barriers across China were rapidly removed following the announcement of the cancellation of zero-COVID, and a virus-tracking app ceased operations. The Chinese government has paused reporting daily deaths and cases altogether. Furthermore, previous methods used to report COVID-19 deaths were characterized as misleading. Reuters reports that only deaths directly caused by COVID-19 were included in the official tally; those with pre-existing conditions who died while infected with COVID-19 were not. On the other hand, other countries adopted different stances towards COVID-19 control in the past three years. For example, Sweden employed a more handsoff approach, opting to forgo extreme control measures and instead attempting to achieve social distancing via public safety guidelines, in stark contrast to the authoritarian methods of China and other East Asian countries. However, the smaller population size and density of countries such as Sweden may have contributed to the efficacy of their safety measures. Although the pandemic phase of COVID-19 may be over in the public’s eyes, its persistence reveals KAILEY HU, ELLIE KIM AND JUDE TANTAWY ART the dangers of abruptly abandoning precautions.
Egypt’s legacy of looting Staff Writer
In January, three thieves attempted to use a heavy crane to lift out a 2,000-pound 10-foot granite statue of one of Ancient Egypt’s most magnificent pharaohs, Ramses II. While authorities successfully caught them, attempted robberies of ancient treasures intended for sale on the black market have been a recurring concern for the Egyptian government. Following the arrest of the three unnamed thieves, The Washington Post stated that it is unknown if the statue was damaged, or how close the thieves were to successfully moving the statue. According to Mohamed Ibrahim, Egypt’s Antiquities Minister, Egyptians will have to continue to fight looting for many years as it is a “centuries-old business” and crime. USA Today reports that looters
TIANSHU YANG ART
are generally organized in gangs and are occasionally violent or armed. In desperation to escape poverty, some robbers turn to looting to sell artifacts for money. The Middle East Institute states tomb robbers often dig holes to steal artifacts or to find the mythical “red mercury,” a substance believed to immensely strengthen the holder, cure diseases and grant the owner control over others. In 2013, caretakers at tomb sites remarked that every night groups of up to 40 arrived with machine guns and complex equipment to move mounds of sand. Guards failed to stop the looters and a total of three of them faced severe injuries in their attempts that year. “Egypt’s looting problem needs greater attention. It disturbs the peace and disrespects the years of culture surrounding items inside tombs and other historic buildings. If looting worsens even further, it could result in mass vandalism or even the destruction of culturally important locations,” Sophomore Aidan Longtin said. A study using satellite imagery by Cambridge University
Press shows that between 2002 and 2013, damage to archaeological sites due to looting increased. The rise began in 2009 during the global economic crises and worsened from the commotion of the Arab Spring in 2011. The origin of antiquities entered in the black market can be predicted by using satellite data. Satellites recorded that the Pyramid of Amenemhet III at Dahshur appeared to have no looting during November 2009 but over the course of three and a half years, a significant portion of the site was looted. Moreover, political news journal The Majalla News announced that from 2017 to 2019, Egypt recovered 1,000 illegally trafficked objects by working with auction houses and international culture groups. The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement managed to bring five artifacts back to Egypt by
opening an investigation on a network that illegally stole cultural items, known as “Operation Mummy’s Curse.” The Egyptian government declared to foreign museums that artifacts are the property of their country and any illegally smuggled items must be returned. To celebrate the return of repatriated artifacts, the Egyptian Museum dedicated an exhibit to them in 2015. However, some items that were illegally stolen from Egypt were not given back, such as the Rosetta Stone—which the British Museum refuses to return. “It is important to preserve the history of ancient items. Looting is a very severe problem because it harms the integrity and culture of countries such as Egypt, and significant items like artifacts should not be meddled with,” Junior Christie Nguyen said. The perennial looting of ancient antiquities continues in Egypt. Unless the true cultural value of these artifacts are appreciated by looters, theft will continue, while Egypt will continue calling for repatriation.
