China’s zero-Covid rules spark social media storm as article recalls ‘isolationist’ Ming, Qing era

Closed-door policies of last two imperial dynasties were actually ‘self-restriction’ that did both good and bad, Academy of History article argues

Weibo users allege the write-up promotes benefits of isolationism, as seen in China’s current Covid-19 policy.

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The Temple of Heaven in Beijing, revered by emperors of both the Ming and Qing dynasties. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 9:00am, 31 Aug 2022

An article on the “closed-door” policy of the Ming and Qing dynasties and its role in keeping away Western colonisers has sparked a storm on the Chinese internet, taking on added resonance as China sticks to its zero-Covid policy.

The isolationist policies of the last two imperial dynasties are sometimes blamed for closing off China to the outside world for some five centuries, causing its decline before the new People’s Republic came into being in 1949.

The article argues it was not a policy of complete isolation as such, but of “self-restriction” – to protect national interests and ward off foreign invasion.

However, while this delayed “the bloody eastward expansion of the Western colonialists” to some extent, the policy was “highly conservative” and had its limitations, it concedes.

The article, published in June in a Chinese Academy of History journal, has recently been doing the rounds on social media. It is attributed to a research group, with no authors named.

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