Shanghai residents use code words, video to protest Covid lockdown

A courier in a protective suit makes deliveries to a residential compound amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak in Shanghai, China, on April 23, 2022. There is an unprecedented flood of complaints even on heavily censored social media platforms, where residents in China’s most populous and wealthiest city use euphemisms and post pictures upside down to get around censors. — Reuters

As a young tech professional in Shanghai, Daniel was unprepared for the April 1 Covid-19 lockdown that barred him from leaving his building, forcing him to rely on sparse government rations and a group chat on a mobile app for essential supplies.

The WeChat group of about 200 residents in his compound allows him to make group buys of meat, vegetables and rice – and gives him a ringside view of growing frustration over the city’s handling of the pandemic, with increasing expressions of dissent online.