Why are China's Covid-19 figures not accurate?

It is no longer a secret that China's Covid-19 figures are inaccurate. There are many versions of this fact, some portrayed the country as liars, others more understanding. Being Chinese, with living parents and family all living in China, I am on the fence with this one. For the past four weeks, I have had many readers, friends, family, all asking me my opinion on the matter and what my thoughts are. Most of them just wanted to know whether I believe China is hiding the real numbers on purpose or whether it's more of a misunderstanding of the fact that they did not know how to tally the figures properly. Having done my research, saying that I mean not reading fake news and believing in it, I have a general understanding of the matter.

I believe for you to understand what my thoughts are on the matter, I would need to split my concept into several easy to absorb parts. Starting with the basics of the matter, then the cultural, political and social impacts on the matter, then my education and upbringing influencing my thoughts, eventually to the summary of the situation.

The Basics

China reported its figures to be 82,294 infected with Covid-19 up till 27th March 2020 with 3,390 deaths. This figure was tallied by the country's National Health Commission. (NHC) The WHO (World Health Organisation) visited China in January, to assess the situation and to assist in providing resources and information on how to provide the most sufficient care for Covid-19 patients. I based my opinion largely on the fact that the WHO would have taught or explained to China's NHC on how to accumulate simple records as well as its exceptions and guidelines. It's only fair for me to assume that?

Cultural, Political & Social Impacts

The Chinese culture is a very different one compared to its Western counterparts. In Chinese communities and families, going to a medical institution such as a doctor's surgery, hospital or emergency room is only necessary when there are huge amounts of blood or when you actually feel the life being drained out of your body. This consensus is widespread and normal for the general population of China. What Chinese people call a cold, "gan mao" in Mandarin is common. Most households have Chinese herbal drinks and syrups tucked away in every kitchen cupboard. This is much like how every home in the UK stocks paracetamol. It's just something they have on hand as "gan mao" happens more than most people would like. The general population also believe in the effects of healing soups, herbal medicine, natural remedies more than western medicine as they call it. My grandparents and mother, for example, think that once you take a tablet, you must take it for life. [Facepalm moment] I have never really understood that.

From a social aspect, the social behaviour of the Chinese population is very important in this discussion. In China, it is common for three to four generations to live under one roof. It is also becoming increasingly popular for young people to flatshare, by very unconventional standards in most cases. What I mean is there can easily be ten tenants in an apartment fit for four adults. Knowing these facts is important because it explains the rapid spread of the Covid-19 in the country.

Onto the more pressing political environment of China and how it plays a big part in my understanding of the pandemic. China's political agenda has always been its most important line of enquiry when it came to an international perspective. The current chairman Xi is the first to crack down on corruption in the country as well as upgrading each city's infrastructure and industrial capabilities. This chairman is seen by many in the country as a hero that can lead them to be a major player in the global economy if they don't think they are there already.

Influence from my education and upbringing

For those of you who don't know me well enough already, I was educated most of my life in British boarding schools eventually ending up at a British University before continuing my life here in England. I was brought up by my entrepreneur mother and a politician father. Ever since I was little, I was told that China has very strong views on controlling its people. In my mind freedom and free speech was never something I could have in China. As a Chinese citizen I rarely even thought about publishing anything in Mandarin on social media, state-run newspapers and media outlets etc. On the odd occasion, my own father would publish one of my articles onto his personal WeChat account (Most of the time without my permission).

I won't say that I don't love my country or that I prefer another but it is the lack of understanding to some of the things people do in China and its lack of a well constructed legal system that worries me. Since I came to study in England at quite an early age you can say that I know more about British history and culture than that of China. Although I was born in China, I spent most of my childhood in Hong Kong before coming to study here in England. So, my views on the political and social environment of China was very much skewed by the bad press Hong Kong gave its motherland. When my mother and I moved to Hong Kong from China the city was still a British colony. If you have never visited Hong Kong before 1997, just know that it was very different back then. As a child, I felt safer in Hong Kong than I did in the south of China growing up with my grandparents.

From the health and medical point of view though with regards to my family, we are a little unconventional. Perhaps it is because members of my family went through battles of cancer at different stages of their lives, so we take medical concerns a lot more serious than the rest of the population. When you don't have illnesses you naturally do not feel like you need to visit the hospitals but my family are very diligent with body checks etc and getting medicine for what they need to treat specific symptoms.

My thoughts on the matter

After knowing the above background and where I started my research on the current pandemic and the country's false representations of the data, I can finally get on to telling you my thoughts on the matter. Yes, I know that China's numbers are not accurate. No, I do not think they did this deliberately. I put it down to miscommunication and lack of intellect on the matter to know what they should have counted and what not. They did not include asymptomatic cases as well as the deaths which did not make it into the centralised hospitals specified for the treatment of the virus. I believe that this is mainly because the NHC did not give a detailed memo as to what numbers to include and how to tallie the figures. I have noticed over the years of working with Chinese corporations that common sense does not exist within their vocabulary. When the WHO and the rest of the world have been counting every single confirmed case of Covid-19, China has only been testing the severely ill. It is similar to what the UK is currently doing. Since they are only testing the severely ill, the numbers may appear lower than Italy and the US, however, this is in turn more dangerous for the rest of the population. It increases the unknowns for the rest of us as we really have no clue what sort of percentage of our neighbourhood may have the virus. The Chinese government has put its citizens all under risk, as they loosen the travel restrictions around the epicentre of the virus. Since they did not make their citizens aware of the real risk of the virus and its accurate figures, Chinese people like my parents, are sending me messages and emails about how I should be heading back to China where I will be safe as England's numbers are escalating. [OMG moment] Totally can't understand how my friends and family in China can disagree with me when I say I believe the numbers to be inaccurate, which is an understatement. If someone tells me now that China has millions of confirmed cases with over five hundred thousand deaths, I honestly would not be surprised.