I think the massive easing of Covid rules is an irrational but have-to decision for Chinese officials to respond to the current protests, as SCMP reported that Xi realized what happened and shifted his tone about the variant. The question now is how China can make this u-turn smoothly and scientifically, given the less effective vaccines, the jab rates among vulnerable groups, people's misunderstanding of Covid and long-Covid or the numerous Fangcang they built......The problem people jokingly described as 三年灾害 can't be simply solved by only reopening. There are more ideological, systematic and institutional conundrums need to be fixed. I bet the officials in Beijing are having meetings and thinking about the next steps, as some people were shocked and confused by this sudden reverse. Looking forward to seeing more details from WSJ and others.