If you don't want to risk harsh punishments in China, you should pay attention to the dress codes and otherwise keep your mouth shut. Criticism is strictly undesirable.

Better dressed differently: people on a Shanghai street Photo: imago

A law enforcement officer has the duty to maintain order. It's that simple, you might think. But China is something special. On April 24, the police reported Huangpu-Shanghai District, next disturbance of order: four citizens of Shanghai were wearing the same shirt and went to a stadium in the district to jog.

However, the regional government had already issued the order in February that three or more people dressed in uniform must first register at the competent police station if they want to enter a public space. Inexperienced runners did not know the regulations or deliberately ignored them. Security forces duly intervened and expelled the four athletes from the field.

They, in turn, went online to blacken the online administration. What's more, a person with the surname Yan circulated a short video and distributed it to more than three other people. Due to the widespread dissemination of negative information, Yan was held in police custody for a full week. If he is convicted, he could face up to seven years in prison.

So much for police efforts to maintain order. What's also worth noting: the note from the same police: “Anyone who retains the short video mentioned here will be asked to delete or destroy it so that it is not misused by hostile elements outside China. In simple Chinese: We do not”. They only want to ensure order, but also that any disturbance of order goes unnoticed by the outside world.

Nothing to complain about in terms of build quality.

Three days later, things looked a little different in the residential area. kang-an in the city Harbin, Northeast China. On April 27, an “abnormal gathering of people” was discovered there, 19 people, including children, in a multi-story residential building. To be more precise: the safety limit, which requires no more than one person per 15 square meters, has been exceeded. The result: the walls of the building now had large cracks and, as a result, the safety of the home was compromised.

After the police determined that the construction quality was absolutely adequate and all necessary approval procedures were impeccably followed, citizens of Harbin City are seriously requested not to spread any “rumors” and please that they do not believe in any. Therefore, law enforcement officers not only have to ensure order, but also ensure that the psyche is adequate.

As can be seen from the last paragraph of the Harbin Police note, when it comes to mental well-being it is recommended to rely only on official announcements. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, a vaccine called Sinopharm was developed, properly tested and legally administered to hundreds of millions of Chinese in China within eight months.

The developer Yang Xiaoming, chief engineer of the pharmaceutical company of the same name, was honored as the “father of Chinese Covid vaccines” in 2023 and awarded the Medal of the People's Republic. Negative side effects of the vaccine are currently being identified, some of which are even responsible for deaths. The response of law enforcement officials, beyond maintaining public peace, is: Yang was removed from all positions and arrested on corruption charges. This means that a claim for compensation against any government agency is excluded.