Beijing: What flood?

Torrential rainfall hit China hard again last month resulting in significant floods, this time in the Hebei province, as well as Beijing, triggering the activation of "flood storage areas" to divert water away from the capital.

When one thinks of flood storage areas, images of unpopulated basins and lakes come to mind.

Oh, not in China.

Zhouzhou, flood storage area and home to millions, now a giant lake. // Reuters via Radio Free Asia

Populated cities surrounding Beijing, like Zhouzhou were among the targeted flood storage areas. Major agricultural zones were targeted areas for flooding, as well as a high-tech industrial zone.

This prompted more mass protests in China, following protests of Covid lockdowns. To give a taste of the actual sentiment among citizens, one resident said, "We've seen so many disasters in our lives, whether it be earthquakes or floods, and nobody trusts [the authorities] anymore. Anyone with any sense knows." This seems to be a major shift compared to just several years ago when nationalist sentiment was high, though this may be confined to certain areas. Still, expressing thoughts like this is dangerous in that part of the world.

The Party Secretary in Hebei, Ni Yuefeng, said that Hebei should act as a moat around Beijing. Yikes. He took a lot of flak for his statements on Chinese social media before they were censored.

On second thought, a moat is probably just what China needs...to isolate Beijing from the rest of the country.

More absurdities of the flood reported by China Uncensored: