64

The Sun ran an article in Feburary 2020 covering viral social media videos purportedly showing citizens in Wuhan having their apartment doors welded shut during the COVID-19 lockdown. The wording of the article implies (without fully stating) that these actions were performed by agents of the Chinese government to enforce the quarantine on people known or suspected to be infected.

Still frame from video in The Sun article.

Is this an accurate description of the events in the video?

Improve this question
3
  • 2
    There's a Four Corners report (starting 31:14) with multiple videos of doors being welded shut.
    – Rebecca J. Stones
    Mar 17, 2020 at 2:09
  • @RebeccaJ.Stones +1 if someone feels that Chinese and anti-CCP media are less credible then this is it.
    – y chung
    Mar 17, 2020 at 20:09
  • A youtube channel called china uncensored has some video of welding doors and other seemingly draconian measures taken in China.
    – Jon
    Mar 18, 2020 at 15:49

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
65

This event happened in late January, but not in Wuhan. The restriction was imposed on the accommodation of someone who had been to Wuhan. It was soon seen by the government as an over-reaction, and the metal bars used to secure the door were removed.

China's investigative media XinJing Paper reported on it

(Google Translate)

Two videos of the door of a suspected Wuhan homecomer were circulated on the Internet, causing concern. On January 30, a reporter from the Beijing News confirmed that the incident occurred in Lianshui County, Huaian City, Jiangsu Province. The reporter confirmed this "door-closing incident" from a person in charge of the propaganda department of the Lianshui County Party Committee, which said that the method was a little overdone in the special period, and the facilities to close the gate had been removed.

As far as I know, similar behaviour never happened in Wuhan.

Improve this answer
4
  • 3
    So people were welded into their apartments, just not in Wuhan? Would you be able to translate the relevant parts of that first link?
    – F1Krazy
    Mar 16, 2020 at 14:09
  • 7
    Yes, there are very few cases in January, Some people returned home from Wuhan were cordoned off by community officials, but the government lifted it immediately. 记者从涟水县委宣传部一负责人处证实了此“封门事件”，其表示特殊时期方法有些过激，目前封门的设施已被拆除。 transltate:The reporter confirmed the event from a person in charge of the Propaganda Department of Lianshui County Party committee. He said that the method in the special period was a little too radical. At present, the facilities to seal the door have been removed.
    – kabu
    Mar 16, 2020 at 14:19
  • 1
    @F1Krazy Most likely their neighbors reported them to the officials, reporting these people are not following quarantine/lockdown rules, it could happen anywhere in or out of Wuhan
    – y chung
    Mar 16, 2020 at 15:04
  • 3
    @ychung In China, it is illegal to conceal the epidemic and tourism history, source Central Committee of the Communist Youth League.
    – kabu
    Mar 16, 2020 at 15:51
38

You will be able to find way more sources and direct video evidence if you know Chinese.

In the first two clips in the article, you can hear the filmers were talking about the coronavirus outbreak in Chinese.

It is just a consequence of lockdown and quarantine, most likely not on every home but those who are not following lockdown/quarantine rules were welded. More Examples:

  1. News segment from EBC New Taiwan, January 29 They exchanged words in Mandarin the women ask why they are welding her home and some swearing mixed in. You can even see they put up a sign (the red rectangular sign) which reads "This family was returned from Wuhan. Avoid contact."

  2. Clip reported by Epoch News, Feb 6 It is recorded outside Wuhan as the officials try to ensure quarantine. This one also has the same sign, suggesting that it is an official operation.

  3. Clip from a neighbor, uploaded Feb 4 From what she says this video was filmed right in the period of outbreak.

  4. Clip uploaded by the Epoch Times on Feb 6 <- in this one it was reported that it is typical to leave only a small window open for delivering food.

  5. Clip uploaded by Radio Free Asia on Feb 3 <- this one is done by chain. The officials were asking if the occupant has "rice and vegetables", they were only let outside once per two days for grocery shopping.

More media-free clips such as this and this. And many more can be found on YouTube with the right keywords.

Improve this answer
10
  • 17
    How reliable are these sources?
    – Andrew Grimm
    Mar 16, 2020 at 7:37
  • 45
    @AndrewGrimm: I would not trust anything out of the Epoch Times/Epoch News; they're quite explicitly biased against the CCP (being an arm of the Falun Gong cult) and have questionable factual accuracy on anything China-related. They're banned as a reliable source on Wikipedia, for instance (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources/…).
    – nneonneo
    Mar 16, 2020 at 8:10
  • 3
    It is really hard to be sure what is going on those videos, and I feel we're missing a lot of context there. More so, chinese culture is quite different from western one. This is... very hard to evaluate.
    – T. Sar
    Mar 16, 2020 at 8:31
  • 7
    @nneonneo I trust the Epoch Times exactly as much as I trust the CCP, which is not at all. The CCP should not be considered a reliable source of information, either. Their deception and lies are how this whole thing got started...
    – user91988
    Mar 17, 2020 at 16:43
  • 10
    @nneonneo, Wikipedia's classifications aren't necessarily absolute truth, and could easily be influenced by individuals who are pro-CCP. To claim bias there has to be evidence of manipulation of facts. Further, Falun Gong is not a cult, but a spiritual practice. One wouldn't say that Yoga is a cult. I encourage anyone reading this to do their own research rather than take someone else's words at face value.
    – N4v
    Mar 17, 2020 at 22:01

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .