This week China experienced their largest protests since 1989, and according to many sources the most dangerous as well. China has painted itself into a corner. It cannot abandon Zero Covid, yet the costs of Zero Covid rise with each passing day and the policy is also slowly failing. What happens next? See the section below for further discussion.
One thing I have noticed looking for a new job myself, even in-person positions for which I am local are having all remote interviews. One interviewer even expressed surprise that I was wearing a suit and tie during the Zoom interview. That might not be true everywhere, but it does suggest that the costs of interviewing for in-person positions is a bit lower than it used to be, since you rarely have to go in.
I think you are spot on with the problems of never being around and interacting with people at work, as well. A lot of costs, not just associated with loneliness but also with work coordination and alienation.
Where *does* the Chinese obsession with surfaces come from? I encounter a good cross-section of people at work, and P (Chinese | wearing some form of face covering) is pretty high. This is comprehensible, cultural memories of MERS etc. are real and not even that long ago. But P (Chinese | neurotically wears gloves/sanitizes) is also pretty high, even compared to baseline security theatre tendencies in SF. Is it something pre-existing in the cultural water, leading to CCP emphasis on surfaces, or does causation go the other way?
This was somewhat noticeable even before covid, honestly...my company is known for providing unusually-high-quality compost bags, which our enterprising Chinese customers make extremely liberal use of. Like, takes-a-fistful-home level utilization. (What do they do with them?) Everything bagged, with no rhyme or reason...it's a huge pain to scan. I guess the norms around surfaces are just different, even absent disease considerations. Can't think of any simple explanation, like general cultural predisposition to conscientiousness...we're pretty chaotic and disorganized about lotsa other things, lol. And if restaurants are anything to go by, cleanliness standards more generally are, uh, <s>good for business</s> different.
One thing I have noticed looking for a new job myself, even in-person positions for which I am local are having all remote interviews. One interviewer even expressed surprise that I was wearing a suit and tie during the Zoom interview. That might not be true everywhere, but it does suggest that the costs of interviewing for in-person positions is a bit lower than it used to be, since you rarely have to go in.
I think you are spot on with the problems of never being around and interacting with people at work, as well. A lot of costs, not just associated with loneliness but also with work coordination and alienation.
Where *does* the Chinese obsession with surfaces come from? I encounter a good cross-section of people at work, and P (Chinese | wearing some form of face covering) is pretty high. This is comprehensible, cultural memories of MERS etc. are real and not even that long ago. But P (Chinese | neurotically wears gloves/sanitizes) is also pretty high, even compared to baseline security theatre tendencies in SF. Is it something pre-existing in the cultural water, leading to CCP emphasis on surfaces, or does causation go the other way?
This was somewhat noticeable even before covid, honestly...my company is known for providing unusually-high-quality compost bags, which our enterprising Chinese customers make extremely liberal use of. Like, takes-a-fistful-home level utilization. (What do they do with them?) Everything bagged, with no rhyme or reason...it's a huge pain to scan. I guess the norms around surfaces are just different, even absent disease considerations. Can't think of any simple explanation, like general cultural predisposition to conscientiousness...we're pretty chaotic and disorganized about lotsa other things, lol. And if restaurants are anything to go by, cleanliness standards more generally are, uh, <s>good for business</s> different.