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The Sun ran an article in Feburary 2020 covering viral social media videos purportedly showing citizens in Wuhan having their apartment doors welded shut during the COVID-19 lockdown. The wording of the article implies (without fully stating) that these actions were performed by agents of the Chinese government to enforce the quarantine on people known or suspected to be infected.

Still frame from video in The Sun article.

Is this an accurate description of the events in the video?

Aaron Rotenberg
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    There's a [Four Corners report](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycrqXJYf1SU) (starting 31:14) with multiple videos of doors being welded shut. – Rebecca J. Stones Mar 17 '20 at 02:09
  • @RebeccaJ.Stones +1 if someone feels that Chinese and anti-CCP media are less credible then this is it. – y chung Mar 17 '20 at 20:09
  • A youtube channel called china uncensored has some video of welding doors and other seemingly draconian measures taken in China. – Jon Mar 18 '20 at 15:49

2 Answers2

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This event happened in late January, but not in Wuhan. The restriction was imposed on the accommodation of someone who had been to Wuhan. It was soon seen by the government as an over-reaction, and the metal bars used to secure the door were removed.

China's investigative media XinJing Paper reported on it

(Google Translate)

Two videos of the door of a suspected Wuhan homecomer were circulated on the Internet, causing concern. On January 30, a reporter from the Beijing News confirmed that the incident occurred in Lianshui County, Huaian City, Jiangsu Province. The reporter confirmed this "door-closing incident" from a person in charge of the propaganda department of the Lianshui County Party Committee, which said that the method was a little overdone in the special period, and the facilities to close the gate had been removed.

As far as I know, similar behaviour never happened in Wuhan.

Oddthinking
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kabu
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    So people *were* welded into their apartments, just not in Wuhan? Would you be able to translate the relevant parts of that first link? – F1Krazy Mar 16 '20 at 14:09
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    Yes, there are very few cases in January, Some people returned home from Wuhan were cordoned off by community officials, but the government lifted it immediately. `记者从涟水县委宣传部一负责人处证实了此“封门事件”，其表示特殊时期方法有些过激，目前封门的设施已被拆除。` transltate:`The reporter confirmed the event from a person in charge of the Propaganda Department of Lianshui County Party committee. He said that the method in the special period was a little too radical. At present, the facilities to seal the door have been removed.` – kabu Mar 16 '20 at 14:19
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    @F1Krazy Most likely their neighbors reported them to the officials, reporting these people are not following quarantine/lockdown rules, it could happen anywhere in or out of Wuhan – y chung Mar 16 '20 at 15:04
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    @ychung In China, it is illegal to conceal the epidemic and tourism history, [source Central Committee of the Communist Youth League](https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/mpNPneck3FTDaWZqjnqODQ). – kabu Mar 16 '20 at 15:51
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You will be able to find way more sources and direct video evidence if you know Chinese.

In the first two clips in the article, you can hear the filmers were talking about the coronavirus outbreak in Chinese.

It is just a consequence of lockdown and quarantine, most likely not on every home but those who are not following lockdown/quarantine rules were welded. More Examples:

  1. News segment from EBC New Taiwan, January 29 They exchanged words in Mandarin the women ask why they are welding her home and some swearing mixed in. You can even see they put up a sign (the red rectangular sign) which reads "This family was returned from Wuhan. Avoid contact."

  2. Clip reported by Epoch News, Feb 6 It is recorded outside Wuhan as the officials try to ensure quarantine. This one also has the same sign, suggesting that it is an official operation.

  3. Clip from a neighbor, uploaded Feb 4 From what she says this video was filmed right in the period of outbreak.

  4. Clip uploaded by the Epoch Times on Feb 6 <- in this one it was reported that it is typical to leave only a small window open for delivering food.

  5. Clip uploaded by Radio Free Asia on Feb 3 <- this one is done by chain. The officials were asking if the occupant has "rice and vegetables", they were only let outside once per two days for grocery shopping.

More media-free clips such as this and this. And many more can be found on YouTube with the right keywords.

y chung
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    How reliable are these sources? – Andrew Grimm Mar 16 '20 at 07:37
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    @AndrewGrimm: I would not trust anything out of the Epoch Times/Epoch News; they're quite explicitly biased against the CCP (being an arm of the Falun Gong cult) and have questionable factual accuracy on anything China-related. They're banned as a reliable source on Wikipedia, for instance (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources/Perennial_sources#The_Epoch_Times). – nneonneo Mar 16 '20 at 08:10
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    It is really hard to be sure what is going on those videos, and I feel we're missing a lot of context there. More so, chinese culture is quite different from western one. This is... very hard to evaluate. – T. Sar Mar 16 '20 at 08:31
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    @ychung: Videos can be faked, yeah. Given the Epoch Times' journalistic angle, it's not out of the question that they would accept a faked video as "evidence" of the CCP's misdeeds. It's less likely that they'd fake it themselves, but there's no shortage of people who would fake a video to make the Chinese government look bad. Even if not faked, the video could have been selectively edited (and indeed at least one of those videos is definitely edited - cuts between multiple angles and scenes). – nneonneo Mar 16 '20 at 19:18
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    So basically it's a way to enforce the rules that would only be applied _if you violate the quarantine order_ , _not_ that would just be applied immediately when first asked to quarantine. A _penalty_ for breaching the rules, like using imprisonment or fines, but without the movement of the prisoner to a prison facility where they can then spread more illness around. – The_Sympathizer Mar 17 '20 at 00:13
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    @nneonneo I trust the Epoch Times exactly as much as I trust the CCP, which is not at all. The CCP should not be considered a reliable source of information, either. Their deception and lies are how this whole thing got started... – user91988 Mar 17 '20 at 16:43
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    Since my comment is deleted, I would like to restate that the evidence is what you can see and hear in the clips, not the media who posted it. First, I just conveniently post the top few links, a bit of search reveal that they are posted by multiple sources, and any source that dare to post this is automatically anti-CCP. And since OP only ask whether such practice exists, I found the clips alone is a good enough evidence, regardless of the source. – y chung Mar 17 '20 at 16:47
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    @user91988 Indeed whether state-controlled media or anti-CCP media is more trustable is worth a separate debate. – y chung Mar 17 '20 at 16:53
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    @nneonneo, Wikipedia's classifications aren't necessarily absolute truth, and could easily be influenced by individuals who are pro-CCP. To claim bias there has to be evidence of manipulation of facts. Further, Falun Gong is not a cult, but a spiritual practice. One wouldn't say that Yoga is a cult. I encourage anyone reading this to do their own research rather than take someone else's words at face value. – N4v Mar 17 '20 at 22:01
  • I wonder for those who upvoted the other answer, who has even heard of XinJing media... – y chung Mar 18 '20 at 01:09