The Year of the Rat, 2020, began poorly for China. Hong Kong was in an uproar, and its protesters were enjoying international sympathy. The Communist Party’s policies toward Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang were being widely condemned as excessive, even genocidal. Consumers, particularly in America, had begun to boycott Chinese goods in the backlash over pro-China censorship by the NBA, Blizzard Entertainment, and other ostensibly American companies. Tariffs had precipitated adramatic decline in Chinese exports to the United States. The world had woken up to the Communist Party’s hegemonic ambitions, and it seemed that a pushback had begun under American leadership.
China’s Very Good Year: From manufacturing to Hollywood, the Communist Party has benefited from 2020’s chaos.
