Helen Gao is a writer based in Beijing. She writes about the cultural and social impact of Chinese authoritarianism. Her work has also appeared in the Atlantic and the New York Times.
A Chinese Communist Party flag is seen next to a health worker wearing protective clothing as a worker registers for a COVID-19 test at a makeshift testing site in Beijing on April 28.
BEIJING, CHINA - APRIL 19: A Chinese couple wear protective masks as they push their child on a scooter outside the Forbidden City, which remains closed to visitors, on April 19, 2020 in Beijing, China. After decades of growth, officials said China's economy had shrunk in the latest quarter due to the impact of the coronavirus epidemic. The slump in the world's second largest economy is regarded as a sign of difficult times ahead for the global economy. While industrial sectors in China are showing signs of reviving production, a majority of private companies are operating at only 50% capacity, according to analysts. With the pandemic hitting hard across the world, officially the number of coronavirus cases in China is dwindling, ever since the government imposed sweeping measures to keep the disease from spreading. Officials believe the worst appears to be over in China, though there are concerns of another wave of infections as the government attempts to reboot the world's second largest economy. Since January, China has recorded more than 83,000 cases of COVID-19 and at least 4,500 deaths, mostly in and around the city of Wuhan, in central Hubei province, where the outbreak first started. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)
Two ethnic Uighur women pass Chinese paramilitary policemen standing guard outside the Grand Bazaar in the Uighur district of the city of Urumqi in China's Xinjiang region on July 14, 2009. A mosque was closed and many businesses were shuttered a day after police shot dead two Muslim Uighurs, as ethnic tensions simmered in restive Urumqi. AFP PHOTO / Peter PARKS (Photo credit should read PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images)
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