This enthusiastic movie-going, sightseeing and statue-slapping is evidence of a surprisingly speedy consumer revival in the world’s second-biggest economy. The mausoleum says it received 300,000 visitors in the festive period, the most in three years. Box-office revenues were not only better than last year, they were also higher than in the year before covid-19. China’s population, subject until recently to mass screening, is now massing at the screens.
The recovery is arriving earlier than expected because the virus spread faster. Since China hastily abandoned its zero-covid regime, infections appear to have passed remarkably quickly. State epidemiologists estimate that at least 80% of the population has already caught the disease. According to official figures, hospital inpatient numbers peaked on January 5th. A second wave of infections was expected after…
