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SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
South China Morning Post (SCMP) is an English-language daily published in Hong Kong. Co-founded in 1903 by the British journalist Alfred Cunningham, the newspaper has an estimated circulation of 104.000. It is currently owned by Alibaba group.
Photo of F-16 Fighting Falcons line up on the runway before taking off during Surge Week at Kunsan Air Base, Republic of Korea
Geopolitics
Dan Wu

Old Witch Farce, No Fly Zone:  Specter Of Pelosi Taiwan Trip Raises Heat In Region

A phone call Thursday between Presidents Xi and Biden may have avoided adding tensions to U.S.-China relations, but now all attention will be back on the question of whether Nancy Pelosi lands in Taipei next month for a meeting that Beijing has been warning against and the Chinese media stirs the pot.

It's not quite "Nixon goes to China," but the question of whether U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will visit Taiwan is already stirring geopolitical tensions, and sparking rhetorical bluster from Beijing's official channels, as well as media and social networks.

Following The Financial Times' report on July 19 of a planned trip, Pelosi herself has still not confirmed whether she will be the most senior Congressional figure to make an official visit to Taiwan in 25 years. But that hasn't stopped continuous speculation and threats, and even insults, coming from mainland China.

The possibility of a visit also further complicated an already highly charged call Thursday between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the first since March.

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China's "Two-Legged Sheep" And The Cost Of COVID Discrimination
Coronavirus
Dan Wu

China's "Two-Legged Sheep" And The Cost Of COVID Discrimination

As China holds firm in its zero-COVID approach, discrimination against those who have tested positive is rampant. Some even find themselves homeless and jobless. Now, the government is trying to tackle the stigma, but it won't be easy.

On July 9, the story of Afen, a young girl living in the restrooms of Shanghai Hongqiao train station, spread rapidly on Chinese social media. The girl was reported to be jobless and homeless because she had once contracted COVID. In post-lockdown Shanghai, many recruiters refused to give jobs to those who had been infected or who had worked in hospitals. Such demands in Shanghai’s labor market were not just seen in companies and firms but also in manual part-time jobs.

And even shelters might not host people who had tested positive for the virus. In Shanghai alone, thousands of workers like Afen were left with no choice but to live on the streets and struggle for their survival.

Another story of a girl who lost her job due to her infection history also caught the attention of millions of netizens. In a video, 24-year-old He Yuxiu recounted fleeing wartime Ukraine, where she had been studying. When she finally found a job teaching Russian in a Chinese school, she was sacked because she tested positive twice on returning to China. Yuxiu says that in China, "Social discrimination is the biggest issue after you’ve been infected with COVID-19."

Positive means guilty

As He Yuxiu makes clear, such cases are not unique. Discrimination against COVID-positive people has been part of the ongoing pandemic in China, visibly or invisibly. Apart from becoming "unemployable," individuals who have recovered from COVID could be barred from public places, and even refused from staying long-term in hotels.

Discrimination could also come from neighbors and acquaintances. During mass lockdowns, like the one that took place in Shanghai a few months ago, a whole living unit would go through tough restrictions if there was one positive case. So the "positive" person could be seen as "guilty," taking on tremendous blame and stress. There were even cases of making public apologies to neighbors for testing positive.

The new phrases used to refer to those who have tested positive also reflect this discrimination. From "little positive man" to "two-legged sheep" (the word "sheep" yáng has the same pronunciation as "positive" in Mandarin), patients are sometimes just called "male sheep" and "female sheep" or even just a sheep emoji. These are not just simple words, but a step-by-step stigmatization of the disease.

Apart from becoming "unemployable," individuals who have recovered from COVID could be barred from public places

Sam Balye

Life under "zero-Covid"

Observers say that China's Zero-COVID approach is to blame for discriminatory attitudes. The risk of having someone re-testing as positive is too high for companies to take because everyone in the workplace would have to go into isolation.

The same idea applies to living spaces and communities. There is even a joke that "where you will be tomorrow and whether you could go out depends on your neighbor." On the other hand, the mass population are not up-to-date on the latest scientific knowledge about COVID, so the fear from two years ago is still present.

China's COVID technology also creates conditions to identify those testing positive. Under the country’s COVID-19 control system, individuals need to carry a health code, which resembles an e-passport that tracks one’s travel history, residence and medical records. The code switches colors from green and yellow to red, indicating different levels of COVID exposure risks.

Privacy is easily violated to have total control over the virus

In order to track cases under the zero-COVID policy, one needs to show their health code when entering places and taking public transport. For many job seekers, it is obligatory to show their COVID testing history to recruiters. So a person's infection history is very obvious, leaving people vulnerable to discrimination. When a positive case is identified, the individual has to release information on their whereabouts and recent activities, and such information is widely circulated in group chats and social media.

A call to end discrimination

People are consequently at risk of cyberattacks and privacy leakages. There have been suggestions that the health code should show COVID testing results for the most recent month and have improved privacy protection. But with the ongoing zero-COVID approach, privacy is easily violated to have total control over the virus.

On July 13, at a State Council meeting, China’s Premier Li Keqiang called for equal employment rights and announced that discrimination against people recovered from COVID would be punished. Keqiang stressed the importance of stabilizing the labor market, making clear Beijing's wish for economic activities to go back to normal.

But with the zero-COVID approach and regional administrations still enforcing lockdowns and strict quarantine regulations, it is going to prove difficult to see an overnight change. And the millions of Chinese people who have had COVID might still finding themselves trying to live their lives in the face of discrimination and stigma.

Photo of a Chinese streamer recording
Society
Dan Wu

Lipstick And Tiananmen: China Dives Into Livestreaming Censorship

It may have taken a little while, but the Chinese Communist Party woke up to the risks of losing control of information flows on livestream platforms.

Austin Li Jiaqi, China’s “lipstick King” and most famous beauty influencer, has been missing since last month from social media and livestreams.

Most trace his absence to a livestream on June 3 when Li was presented with a tank-shaped cake — it was the night before the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

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A man mourns former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe.
Geopolitics
Dan Wu

What The Shinzo Abe Assassination Could Mean For The China Question

The death of the former Japanese Prime Minister has provoked different reactions between mainland China and Taiwan, but also between government officials and the public in the People's Republic. Looking ahead, will Japan's pro-Taiwan stance stick for the long haul?

-Analysis-

The assassination of Shinzo Abe has shocked the world, and East Asia in particular. The longest-serving Japanese prime minister was admired for his personal charisma and stern decisiveness, but was also among the most conservative and nationalistic leaders in the region's post-War history.

Even if he is credited with stabilizing Japan's economy, his two stints in office are notable for coinciding with the rise of China as a global economic and military power.

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Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu at the Central Government Office​
Geopolitics
Dan Wu

John Lee And The "Mainlandizing" Of Hong Kong

The festivities to mark 25 years since the British handover to China of Hong Kong also marked the official arrival of the new leader of Hong Kong, John Lee, who will move things even faster and closer to Beijing.

The scene was set well Friday as Hong Kong marked 25 years of being back under Chinese rule. The weather forecast predicted a typhoon, just as it had in 1997 when the sovereignty of the island city was officially transferred to Beijing, ending the era of being a British colony that had begun in 1842. But there were other storms brewing.

Streets flooded with Chinese and Hong Kong flags, cheering crowds, history lessons and speeches — and at the center was President Xi Jinping, who arrived on Thursday, for his visit outside mainland China since the 2020 Covid outbreak, and his first visit to Hong Kong since 2017.

But the other face to keep track of for Hong Kong’s 25th Handover anniversary looked a bit more tense than Xi's behind their respective white masks with a red "25" on the side.

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Work → In Progress: Why 'Financial Wellness' Is Not Just About A Raise
Work In Progress
Rozena Crossman

Work → In Progress: Why 'Financial Wellness' Is Not Just About A Raise

The workplace wellness trend now includes the very practical questions about how, when and how much we get paid, and is shaping up to be the next step in blurring the lines between personal and professional that were once so neatly divided.

We’re approaching the end of Q1 of 2022 and the “wellness” trend that’s usually reserved for millennials’ yoga mats has officially made its way into the professional world. After two years of realizing that job setups don’t always favor employees’ health, the call for sweeping workplace changes — ranging from more medical access to an HR focus on mental well-being — is in full swing.

But wouldn't you know: the latest professional self-care trend carries a notably practical air: financial wellness.

Bank of America’s 2021 Workplace Benefits Report mentioned “financial wellness” 43 times, which it defined as “the type of support employers are offering to address financial needs.” But is making money not the point of work? It seems this new rebranding of how work relates to cash is indicative of how differently we now view employment.

The financial wellness movement doesn’t want companies to just fairly compensate employees but instead to teach them how to manage their salaries, be it saving for retirement, navigating debt or budgeting.

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Photo of a sunset over Chicago's O'Hare airport with backlit plane tails
Future
Carl-Johan Karlsson

7 Ways The Pandemic May Change The Airline Industry For Good

Will flying be greener? More comfortable? Less frequent? As the world eyes a post-COVID reality, we look at ways the airline industry has been changing through a pandemic that has devastated air travel.

It's hard to overstate the damage the pandemic has had on the airline industry, with global revenues dropping by 40% in 2020 and dozens of airlines around the world filing for bankruptcy. One moment last year when the gravity became particularly apparent was when Asian carriers (in countries with low COVID-19 rates) began offering "flights to nowhere" — starting and ending at the same airport as a way to earn some cash from would-be travelers who missed the in-flight experience.

More than a year later today, experts believe that air traffic won't return to normal levels until 2024.

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As long as there's good WiFi ...
REUTERS
Rozena Crossman

Work → In Progress: Second Wave Seals A New Future For Work

COVID-19 shook up the world of work last spring. Since the virus (and lockdowns) returned this fall, the changes underway have only accelerated.

As the year comes to an end, much of the world is re-confining — or never left quarantine. Although COVID-19 has been with us for nearly 12 months, many of the questions it's triggered about our way of work (and life) have yet to be answered. How do companies factor in their employees' cost of living when so many are moving away? How do workers unionize when they're all working remotely? Can we efficiently network at online conferences? While we may not have all of the solutions just yet, conversations around these themes are swiftly ramping up as businesses prepare for an increasingly remote, digitized world — even post-vaccine.

From Sweden to Silicon Valley to the screen of your computer, this edition of Work → In Progress looks at how companies around the globe are shifting their attitudes as the pandemic rolls on, planting the seeds for the workplace trends of tomorrow.

HERE AND THERE Remote work: Some love it, some hate it. How do companies adapt to the mixed feelings of their employees? Brazilian magazine Epocahighlights how Brazilian companies such as IFood are preparing for a "free model" once the pandemic subsides, meaning that employees will decide where it's best for them to perform their activities (with guidance from HR and management, of course). According to the article, Milton Beck, LinkedIn general manager for Latin America, says that employees were working 28 more hours per week since the pandemic, as work-life balances were thrown into chaos. He believes we can expect to see more hybrid models incorporating both in-person and at-home solutions in a post-COVID world.

PRODUCTIVITY DEVELOPMENT After one of the world's strictest lockdown regimes returned to France, some have begun to ask if it's time for employers to change how they measure productivity. While unions fight for more telework days and the legal acknowledgement of more work-at-home professions, numerous companies are worried about not being able to monitor their employees' efficiency from afar. Philippe Emont, of the AlterNego consultancy firm, argues in French dailyLes Echosthat this is actually a fantastic opportunity for progress in HR, as companies have necessary conversations not just about how we work, but how we recognize work. "The trust necessary between employer and employees cannot rest exclusively on indicators of control," Emont writes.

GAME ON While last year's International Conference on Distributed Artificial Intelligence took place in Beijing, this year's conference took place in … a video game. While many salons and symposiums have moved online since the pandemic, few have allowed participants to dress their own avatar. The conference could be the next step in digital events, and perhaps even lead to better online networking — a pet dragon is a great conversation starter.

STAT DU JOUR

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION COVID and the ensuing rise of telework has brought about a migration boom as people leave cities for more spacious homes. Now, companies who already had a significant number of employees working from home before the pandemic are thinking about adjusting employee's pay based on where their home base is. Facebook was criticized for considering the idea of changing the salaries' of employees who now have a lower cost of living, while Stripe offered a $20,000 bonus to employees who left New York, Seattle or San Francisco — followed by a 10% pay decrease. This burgeoning phenomenon may turn into a global conversation about how best to establish a cost of living, and how much it should factor into employee compensation.

UNIONS.COM? How do workers unionize in digital industries? Spanish media El Pais wonders if the traditional codes of employee organization will still apply in a future world, or if it's time to find new methods. How can employees assemble if they're all working remotely? How do the self-employed monitor their working conditions? Which government should digital nomads appeal to? What will define a trade union as jobs rapidly shift and no longer fit into old categories? Whatever the outcome, classic methods of negotiation will surely see an upgrade in years to come.

THE ODD JOB

TRIP OUT According to Swedish website Vagabond, 79% of Swedish employees in the private sector believe business travel will significantly decrease from pre-pandemic levels after COVID subsides. While it may seem logical that companies would rush to meet their customers, partners and contractors, 33% feel that remote meetings are sufficient to get most jobs done. Many Swedes, however, feel that trips will increase in the form of digital nomadism. It seems the travel industry may be taking on less work and more play!