There were rare protests across China over the weekend as people protested against the zero-covid policy.
The unrest came as infections surged, prompting more local Covid controls, and as a central government policy change had raised hopes of a gradual easing. The economy has been under control for nearly three years. Unemployment for young people is near 20%.
The Communist Party's official newspaper, People's Daily, ran an article on Monday on the need to make Covid controls more targeted and effective.
Many apartment communities in Beijing convinced local management they had no legal basis for a lock down. More and more compounds in the capital city stopped residents from leaving on Friday.
Municipal authorities said that temporary controls on movement should not last more than a day.
Students staged protests at many universities over the last three days, while people took to the streets in parts of Beijing and other cities. Some of the videos could not be verified.
The demonstrations started after a building fire killed 10 people in an area that had been locked down for a long time. Covid controls prevented residents and rescue workers from saving lives.
Local authorities declared that the Covid risk had subsided and began relaxing controls.
A protest against Covid and the Communist Party of China took place in Shanghai on Saturday. There are videos that show calls for the president to resign.
Some people were arrested on social media.
The demonstrators are holding up blank sheets of paper. The national anthem and the song "The Internationale" are associated with the founding of the Communist Party of China.
There were protesters at Tsinghua University on Sunday.
It wasn't clear if the protests reached a meaningful scale in a country of over one billion people.
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