To determine whether people are restricted within a particular city or region, referred to as inactive or “whole region stationary,” Metrodata uses three distinct measures.
The first measure is theater operations or closed venues. The location is identified as “cinema silent” when all the cinemas in the observed area have not sold a single ticket and the number of shows played is zero.
The second measure is the variation in offline spending. A location is identified as “consumption static” when the daily consumption recorded by a large internet platform is below 50 percent of the average level compared to the same period the year before.
The final measure is the observable traffic. A location is identified as “traffic stationary” when its “Congestion Index,” as supplied by a major map provider, is below 0.2. On a routine or non-holiday workday, this number suggests the traffic is low or unimpeded.
People living in areas meeting all three measures are labeled as “quiescent.” The City Data Group article explained the significance of what this means.
The number of Chinese people labeled as quiescent, never exceeded 20 million until after the Omicron variant struck in 2022. Starting in January, the number jumped to 50 million then rose to 100 million in early April, and before the middle of the month, 200 million were labeled as quiescent. In other words, lockdowns are occurring in many regions simultaneously.
The lockdown of Shanghai, China’s economic capital, affected 25 million people and attracted worldwide attention. The number accounts for one-eighth of China’s 200 million quiescent people, of which many live in areas rarely seen by the public.
Since May 2020, the article said there were 30 districts and counties that don’t receive much attention but were labeled as quiescent for more than 100 days. For example, Hulan District in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, was in a quiescent state for 182 days; Chongli District in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, for 142 days; and Hailinger County in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, for 135 days.
After an online investigation into the COVID prevention status of these locations, a reporter with The Epoch Times said he could only find scattered information but nothing about when the lockdowns began. Some locations weren’t listed as “closed” or “under static management” by China’s tracking sites. To get reliable data, the reporter had to telephone local businesses, but many did not answer.
The reporter spoke to Mr. Sun, a resident of Harbin city, who confirmed the current lockdown had been in effect for more than two months. But since 2020, the lockdowns were in effect on and off for a combined six months. He said, “Sometimes it’s not completely in lockdown. With a pass, people can go out to buy food once every three days. The supermarket is open, but people cannot move around freely.”
Ms. Ma, a resident of Zhangjiakou, said on May 30 that her city just ended a lockdown that began in March. She said, “We were put in stasis again yesterday, and we had to do a nucleic acid test today.”
In speaking with The Epoch Times, Zheng Jie, a Japanese current affairs commentator said technology today enables researchers to obtain good data and produce irrefutable analyses. The Chinese communist regime is based on lies, as indicated by the CCP censoring the City Data Group article. “The fact that the CCP blocked this article may further prove the credibility of its conclusion,” he said.
