Coercive measures echo government mobilization campaigns that marked some of the ugliest moments under Communist Party rule
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“The government has adopted a mass-movement style tactic to deal with the epidemic,” said Wu Qiang, a former Tsinghua University scholar who is an expert in Chinese social movements. He pointed to historical precedents under Chairman Mao Zedong, including the Struggle against the Three Evils and Five Evils and famous Cultural Revolution.“Encouraging the public to report on each other to achieve the goals of central government rule is nothing new, and this time it’s the same.
The use of tip rewards, however, has provided official endorsement for suspicions that have turned neighbours against neighbours. Nearby in Jinan city, one neighbourhood offered 20 masks to anyone who reported an unregistered person from Hubei province, where Wuhan is the capital. “The primary intent is to cut off the flow of infection sources from Hubei,” said a woman who answered a phone at the tip line and confirmed the existence of the reward.The northeastern Jilin province city of Changhun offered $380 for tips on people who have violated home quarantine measures or concealed symptoms from authorities.
"It will inflict pain on those people who are reported, especially those who have no symptoms and are totally healthy,” he said.
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