Earlier this month, the Chinese government announced its intention to move away from its zero-COVID policy; now, those with mild COVID-19 symptoms are permitted to quarantine at home rather than being forced to go to centralized quarantine facilities. Moreover, officials have also been instructed to stop launching temporary lockdowns, and there’s been a relaxation of testing and health code requirements for so-called cross-regional migrants.

The shift in policy came in response to weeks of protests across much of China, including in Beijing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, and in parts of the Xinjiang region. Those protests themselves were provoked by a fire that occurred in Ürümqi, the capital of Xinjiang, that is reported to have killed ten people and injured nine more, though many suspect the actual figure to be higher. Those deaths are widely attributed to the effect of harsh lockdown measures.

To discuss the protests and their background, Alex Doherty spoke with Jane Hayward, who teaches at the Lau China Institute at Kings College London. Their discussion ranges the widespread grievances and sporadic protests that have taken place in China over the last decade, the importance of the recent worker protests at the giant Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, and the broader economic policy shifts that have occurred in China since the 1970s.