I think I had a fundamental misjudgement on things. Originally, I thought that the people in power now are the group of zeilist in the 1960s. This is a generation without much education and exposure to international norms. For them the formative experience is the culture revolution where the cutting part of human nature is accecurated. When the younger generation moves into leadership postions, issues would be resolved and the country would embrace international norms like any other countries in the world. But education and exposure will only be superfacial if the things that motivotes people are ego. The governmental structure we see might be a refection of the characters of something much more fundamental than just education and exposure. This scares me, a lot.

The moderate, who has a good understanding on what is going on and probably have the best idea for how to move forward, will keep their mouth shut. That is the best option facing them. Those who seek power and eventually gets it are most likely to be those that least qualified to do so.

Lying with statistics:

Loyalty is now at the center of the machinery. Obsequiousness of the local officials is probably the most benign manifestation of the shifting wind. At its worst form, loyalty would reveal itself as willingness for the most extreme actions based on the faintest hints of the higherups.

Case in point, the sudden reopen:

Prior to the sudden reopen, it was the investment into facilities for permanent zero-covid.

With such a power distribution, one likely outcome is the closing of financial market.