The Latest Breaking News from Beijing

Chinese authorities have announced a further easing of COVID-19 curbs with major cities such as Shenzhen and Beijing no longer requiring negative tests to take public transport

Beijing’s endless lockdowns are causing shortages for western firms such as Apple, and it may not be long before they move their supply chains elsewhere

As protests spread across China over the country’s tight anti-Covid restrictions, Twitter users searching for information on the affected cities were instead flooded with provocative tweets showing young women in suggestive poses advertising “dating” services.

Xi’s pandemic policy has created a crisis for the regime.

The recent protests in China against the country’s zero-COVID policy have been unprecedented in their scale, intensity and distribution. Protestors numbering in the thousands were reported in dozens of cities. Not since 1989’s Tiananmen Square protests has there been such widespread civil disobedience.

Protest movements routinely bring symbols that help define their cause. Umbrellas serving as shields against pepper spray came to symbolize demonstrations in Hong Kong in 2014 and again in 2019 as citizens protested anti-democratic measures pushed by Beijing.

Samuel Ren is sick of zero-COVID.

But a bigger problem for Beijing may be the number of elderly Chinese who have yet to get their booster shots.

As a large Beijing street protest against strict COVID curbs reached a climax late last Sunday, several protesters shouted the unspeakable - for China's ruling Communist Party and its leader Xi Jinping to step down.