Internet blocking and filtering, combined with a small army of human censors and ubiquitous CCTV cameras and facial recognition software, act as a circuit-breaker between words and action.

The state pounces on any attempts at political organizing that might challenge its hold on information and power. Officials could not stop people shouting from the rooftops and posting smartphone videos, but the protests were not amplified by mainstream media, which is held tightly in check.

The flow of information in China is essentially top-down. Accurate grass-roots reports, especially those that cast the regime in a bad light, rarely penetrate up to policymakers.

President Xi Jinping is now so identified with zero-Covid that to change course would be a huge political climbdown as he positions himself for an almost unprecedented third term in office at the 20th party congress this fall.