To Avoid an Outbreak, China Cancels Lunar New Year for Millions of Migrants

“Through these heartwarming measures, let migrant workers stay in their place of employment and spend the Spring Festival without worries,” Chen Yongjia, a Chinese official, said last week at a news conference in Beijing hosted by the State Council, China’s cabinet.

In the run-up to the holiday, the government has led a propaganda campaign aimed at persuading migrant workers to avoid traveling home. Large red banners invoking filial piety and model citizen behavior have started to appear on city streets, including in Beijing, the capital.

“Mask or a ventilator? You pick one of the two,” reads one banner.

“If you come home with the disease, you are unfilial,” another exclaims.

“If you spread the disease to your mother and father, then you are utterly devoid of a conscience,” a third banner reads.

The Chinese government is trying to avoid a major outbreak that could undermine the country’s economic recovery. Last year’s lockdowns tipped China’s economy into its first contraction in nearly a half-century, but it later bounced back as officials ordered its state-run banks to lend and factories to open. Earlier this month, China reported that its economy grew 2.3 percent in 2020, most likely outpacing other large countries, including the United States.

Getting people to spend money has been less effective. Another widespread outbreak would cast a pall on any pent-up demand for shopping that usually accompanies the Lunar New Year holiday.

“What would be really damaging is if the virus spread enough to have to shut down more factories and construction sites,” said Arthur Kroeber, managing director of Gavekal Dragonomics, an independent economic research firm.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/world/asia/china-coronavirus-new-year.html